A Whale's Tail and a Bear's Behind...

If you look closely, in the middle of this photo you will see a whale's tail.   That is a humpback in the northern part of Chatham Strait.   We saw at least a dozen whales in the strait, a few were fairly close and appeared to be sleeping at the surface, but most were just too far away to photograph.

These are two Pacific White-sided Dolphins.  There were three of them in total that paced us for a few minutes.

Just outside of Tenekee Inlet at 57.46.511N 134.55.502W we came upon this abandoned 16' skiff just floating about.  Its only content was water.

We called in a Securite over the VHF and the US Coast Guard responded.   We sent a few pictures and gave them the particulars.   They broadcast a PanPan and that was the end of it from what we know.

It doesn't look like it had been occupied by anyone, but rather just come adrift.

We made it to Pavlof Cove in Freshwater Bay about 1800 (6:00pm).   Here, I am sharpening knives in preparation for making dinner.

You just can't have knives that are too sharp!   A dull knife is dangerous.
And here are all of the ingredients ready for the wok.

Ginger, garlic, shallots, onions, scallions, red pepper, Thai chilis, broccoli, and chicken.

The chicken was marinated in baking soda, corn starch, light soy, oyster sauce, chili oil, sesame oil, mirin, white pepper, and Chinese Five-Spice for about an hour.

The cooking sauces are dark soy, light soy, mirin, & peanut oil.

And we all gave the dish a thumbs-up!

There were no leftovers.

We spotted a grizzly foraging along the shore.   His belly isn't dragging, so I'm betting he is only recently awake from his hibernation.   I also bet he is hungry.   We will leave him to forage in peace.
Interesting light blonde head on this one.
Susan with the binoculars looking at the bear.   This was their first bear sighting of the trip and our first grizzly of the season.  

John is momentarily ignoring the bear and looking at the photographer, Karen.
The bluff at the head of this little bay in the waning evening sunlight.
The mountains at the north side of the entrance to Freshwater Bay.   Our cove, Pavlof Cove, is in the foreground in front of this spit of land.

And finally at near 2300 (11:00pm) we get a photo of the sunset.   Sunday (2 days from now) is the Solstice.   Enjoy and Good Night.


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