May 8, 2005 Long Bay to Cow Pens Day 69
It was a relatively uneventful sail up Unakwik Inlet to the Meares Glacier at its head. We passed a “State Trooper” boat that was busy messing with some fisherman’s prawn trap. The pot was set in 120 fathoms and they were getting quite a workout pulling it up by hand. Several large ice sheets were drifting out of the inlet, which was not a good sign. It meant that an ice sheet was still frozen in around the face of the glacier, and that spring breakup was about to occur. Meares Glacier is advancing and apparently mowing down the forest in its path. But we didn’t get to see it, for we were met by an expanse of sheet ice several miles long with the glacier around the corner behind a mountain. It was a great afternoon despite our second glacier failure. It was so hot in the sun we had to “reduce sail” to underwear and t-shirts. We drifted for awhile, ate lunch, and rammed the ice sheet a few times, dislodging parts of it. Tonight we are in “Cow Pens” anchorage. I went for a row among the islands at a perfectly light 2200 hours, which felt like the middle of the afteroon. The days are non-stop now. It is light when we go to bed and light when we wake up. Sunset lasts for hours and hours. We are the furthest north we’ve ever been in “Silent Partner”. Latitude 61 degrees North.
