After crossing into Alaska, with customs cleared, we decided to go the 'long way round' to Ketchikan and circumnavigate Revillagigedo Island (note, neither of us have any idea how to pronounce this...and we decided to just call it Rev Island for short!). This is about 100+ nautical mile excursion and would take us through Misty Fjord National Monument.
We stayed two days in Foggy Bay, which was foggy for a minute, but then cleared to a beautiful blue sky. The weather forecast was looking good. 7 days of sun...and 70 degree weather. I think this is considered a heat wave by Alaskan standards. And if its not, well then, we packed entirely wrong.
From Foggy Bay, we headed north up Behm Channel. We had wind (5 knots), current (1 knot), both against us. But it didn't matter we had sun! The views from Bow to Stern were snow covered peaks on either side. Water green from glacier/river run off.
The distance between stops was 30-40 miles, and we had long days where we saw no other boats or signs of humans. Just Dall's porpoise, a few birds, waterfalls and lots of snowy mountains. Misty Fjords National Monument, is a 2.2 Million acre wilderness on the Tongass National Forest. New Eddystone Rock, a basalt pillar is iconic and sits in the middle of Behm Canal (see photo below).
In retrospect, we could have easily spent 2 weeks doing this loop. Upon reflection, our favorite spot was Fitzgibbon cove. At the Northern most "corner" of the canal, this small inlet features several small islets, 3 rivers, a rock cliff, and magnificent views from the anchorage. And to tie a bow on this place, it was here that we caught some big prawns.
As we made our trek back to civilization and headed back South down the west side of the island, we stayed in a small nook in Neets Bay. The guidebooks call it Fire Cove, although it is unmarked on the charts (55 46.318N 131 32.429W). As we were approaching the anchorage, likely big enough for one (maybe 2?) boat, a humpback whale was right in front of us, in the area of water that was ~200' deep. He (or she) was continuously slapping their tail (called a tail slap?) multiple times, and did this along the shore (which was very steep obviously). We were able to get some marginal, (ok, bad video).... but imagine a whale slapping its tail 20 times in front of you, we just sat there and waited until he moved to the next bay, and we could proceed to our anchorage in shallow waters.
On the internet, my five minutes of research suggests this behavior is used to communicate...maybe the spot is a good place for krill? Or he was just annoyed that we were interrupting his good fishing. Regardless it was very entertaining and we enjoyed the show.
As we headed out of Neets Bay the following day, he or she whale (or a friend) met us at the head of the inlet, we turned off our motor and drifted for awhile with the whale right off our stern. Maybe he/she was just lonely or wanted a fishing buddy. We certainly enjoyed his company.
It was an amazing week. Onward to the 'cities' of SE Alaska.
Have loved getting caught up on your adventures Jeanne! Take care! Sarah K