Pacific NW

Expeditions

Low clouds and drizzle surrounded us in the morning, obscuring the edges of the bay in a white haze. Justin and I opted to stay put for the time being and we had a relaxing morning at anchor. We talked of all the sailing that lies ahead of us and cooked up a big breakfast. Toward noon the skies lifted about 30 feet and we rowed to shore. After a futile attempt at bushwacking through wet alders up a river we filled our water jugs at a waterfall, and later poured them into the main tank. We had set out from Whittier with near-empty water tanks because I had temporarily misplaced the deck fill key so we couldn’t fill at the docks. This was no matter, though. I have come to grow distrustful of the town water. Once, I filled the tank at a town dock only to discover neon-green water coming out the faucet the next day. My Dad and I were at sea for two days without water! Anyways, no water tastes better than that which you see running straight from the snowfields of a tall mountaintop, cold and clear. We finally set out for the day at 1500 hours (unlimited daylight anyways, so who cares?) to visit several tidewater glaciers and spend the “night” in Serentine Cove. We passed by rafts of sea otters and many salmon, which leapt into the air all around the boat. Today the glaciers were not as actively calving, maybe due to the rain and cooler temperatures as of late. We still managed to see a few really big sections let go, however. It was Justin’s first experience with a tidewater glacier and it is good to start small. Toward midnight we settled into Serpentine Cove, built a fire, and baked an excellent batch of biscuits in the cast-iron dutch oven. A low sea mist hung over the water in the bay, and mingled with the smoke from the wood fire.