Ideal Cove and Petersburg
This morning was grey on grey, with showers that came and went, even a little sunshine; in other words, a typical Southeast Alaskan day. We were anchored off the coast of Mitkof Island in the southernmost region of Frederick Sound where the Stikine River has silted up the inside passage. We spent the morning on the Three Lakes Trail, a boardwalk (actually “plankwalk”) that takes you through mossy forest, across meadow, along lakeside. Our Young Explorers received Zodiac driving lessons as well, which went over extremely well, rainy conditions notwithstanding!
Our approach to the marina in Petersburg is always an amazing procedure. The National Geographic Sea Bird was carefully and beautifully maneuvered into place alongside the floating dock, and our guests watching from the top deck were appropriately awed by the dexterity and skill of our officer’s ship-handling ability! Gulls were raucous next to the fish-processing warehouses and the marine slips were almost completely filled with boats: trollers, purse seiners, long-liners….Petersburg is a true hard-working fishing town (which is why I enjoy checking out the hardware shore – what an interesting selection of goods!).
Some folks went by Zodiac across the water for a walk over an Alaskan “bog”, called fondly a “muskeg” where carnivorous plants can be found and tannin-filled holes in the peat bog seem to have no bottom. With Bette Lu (a.k.a. “Berry Lu”), plenty of thimbleberries were grazed upon along the way. Others joined our photo team to work on cultural and people portraits in town, at one point convincing a local policeman to model a bit in front of the Volunteer Fire department building; still others joined Linda and Flip Nicklin for a stroll along the dock to check out the fishing boats and encountered a Steller sea lion devouring salmon between the boat slips.
As special guest, I invited Becky Knight on board. A Petersburg native, she and her husband raised a family while working the fishing life here in Southeast Alaska. Now she works with Fish and Game, so there really is nothing Becky doesn’t know about fishing in the area. A great opportunity for Questions and Answers, recap was lively, and this continued on into the dining room for a crab-fest: Dungeness crab as much as you can eat!
Satiated, with dessert and coffee in the lounge, we cheered on our Video Chronicler after watching a preview of our very own trip – whales, bears and otters, Oh My!!
