Ideal Cove and Petersburg
Morning found us sailing southeast down Frederick Sound. The sky was gray, but no rain threatened us. Off to our right we could see the outskirts of Petersburg, but on we went, down the same island, Mitkof. In the lower southeast point we stopped and prepared for hikes after breakfast. A slight rain (oops, I mean Alaska sunshine) accompanied us as we went into the forest along a quite narrow boardwalk. Many new plants met us, among them the Indian hellebore, or corn lily, an extremely poisonous plant. About five feet tall, it was already in full bloom, with hundreds of green-yellow flowers with a slight fragrance. Mushrooms were also seen in this extremely wet forest, as we walked along a riverside up into the mountains.
Immediately upon returning we set sail towards the northwest, and Petersburg. This lovely fishing-work town was founded by Norwegian immigrants, among them Peter Bushman here, due to the enormous amount of fish (salmon of different species), halibut, Dungeness crab and other delicious seafood. Ice was available from the very nearby Le Conte Glacier, and all the wood to build the fish boxes was there, in the forest. Today it is a very active fishing port, with four major canneries.
As soon as we were tied to the dock, we set off to do the different activities of the afternoon: dock walks to see the different types of fishing ships, bog walks across the Wrangell Narrows and into the Island of Kupreanof, and using bicycles to cycle around town. Photo walks were also undertaken.
As we were preparing to leave this interesting town, a group of orcas were sighted in the Narrows, and we loaded our four Zodiacs with those interested to see them further, in the slight rain, and followed them to the entrance of Wrangell Narrows. There we also spied five Steller’s sea lions, huddled close together on one of the buoys marking the entrance to “Christmas Tree Alley”, as it is called, due to the enormous number of blinking red and green navigational aid lights.
After an incredible Dungeness crab feast, we had the pleasure of listening to our two guests onboard tonight, Drs. Fred Sharpe and Andy Szabo on many aspects.
