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Left photo: Fishing boats on the finger at Petersburg. Middle photo: Ryan Emmons
tries his luck in Wrangle Bay. Right photo: A "local" salmon-fishing at Anan
Bear Park. (Click images to enlarge)We have hit the mother lode!" yelled first mate Josh Claussen as
we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by at least two dozen humpback whales—all
breeching, blowing and flashing their tails as we shut down our engines and
drifted into the pod. For those of us who live on the California coast with
often but distant sightings of one or two whales perhaps a half-mile off, this
was extraordinary. They were passing as close as 30 feet from La Marchesa, blowing their spray across our bow and
covering the lenses of our cameras. We were in Frederick Sound, south of Tracy
Arm, making our way to Prince Rupert in the midst of an Alaskan adventure.
My wife, Christine, and I decided to make the voyage to Alaska
two years ago, moving La
Marchesa from Fort Lauderdale
to San Diego in preparation for our trip north. The 100-foot (30.5-meter)
Hargrave yacht left San Diego in June with Captain Todd Likins at the helm for
its 2,000-mile-plus journey to Alaska. La Marchesa arrived in
Juneau, Alaska, on July 22, 2005, and took on provisions for our family’s
arrival a week later.
 (L to R) Seb and Ian Keneally, and Christine, Ryan and
Robert Emmons, found plenty to fill the "tall tails" they would tell later. (Click image to enlarge)
 Juneau is an old gold-mining town named after Joe Juneau, a
miner of some stature in this once lawless frontier. Juneau has since become
much more respectable and serves as the capital of Alaska, despite being
accessible only by air or sea. It is also the home of the Mendenhall Glacier,
one of Alaska’s most famous, renowned for the diversity of its glacier
field. (Click image to enlarge)
In order to better understand the scope of the glacier
phenomena, we decided to charter a helicopter from Temco’s fleet of 11 A-Stars
for a tour by air. Little were we prepared for what unfolded: glacier after
glacier, snowy ice caps, quarter-mile-deep blue-ice crevices and snowpacks
that were still knee-deep despite the fact it was August.
 Helicopter was the best way to get to Herbert
Glacier for a family walking tour. (Click image to enlarge)
Our pilot, Simon, dropped us down on Herbert Glacier and, with ice cleats in
place, we walked the glacier and watched our 15-year-old son, Ryan, leap across
some of the narrower ice crevices. Next, we landed on the snowy cap of the
Juneau Icefield. The temptation being too great, we soon found ourselves in the
midst of a ferocious snowball fight that will long be remembered. Flying through the canyons with their clinging
herds of mountain goats on our return to base ranks as one of the most
breathtaking views of nature we could imagine.
Top photo: Captain Todd Likins at the helm, earning his keep in
hazardous waters. Bottom photo: La Marchesa handled the challenges of the
North admirably. (Click images to enlarge)
The following day, we made our way north on a 100-mile trip to
Glacier Bay, home of the Grand Pacific, Johns Hopkins, Muir and Margerie
glaciers. Glacier Bay encompasses an area of 3.3 million acres and is home to
abundant wildlife, including bears, wolves, moose and mountain goats, as well as
humpback whales, orcas, seals and sea lions. One of the highlights of our
three-day visit was a "polar bear swim" among the icebergs with the face of the
Grand Pacific Glacier dominating in the background. Most of the glaciers have been retreating in recent times, with
some having pulled back as much as a quarter-mile during the past 50 years.
Many scientists think that global warming represents a significant threat to the
long-term existence of the glaciers in their present forms.
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