Hoonah, Xunaa!

 

The high peaks of the Fairweather range are over 15,000 feet in elevation.   That is quite impressive as those mountains start at sea level.   The highest peak in the Fairweather Range is Mount Fairweather.  This range forms the western boundary of Glacier Bay with the North Pacific Ocean on the other side.  And you can see all the snow induced by these mountains when they force the moist Pacific air over the top of them.

The morning started out with this same grizzly bear visiting the same stretch of beach near where our boat was anchored.  I'm betting that he frequents this beach.  I wonder if he's run into the other, larger, darker grizzly we saw here last night?

We had an eggless breakfast as we were out of eggs.  So, we made do with coffee cake, waffles, and Raisin Bran - carb-Hell for sure.

Then we picked-up the anchor and headed for Hoonah, 35 miles to the northwest as the boat putters.

We came upon these two purse seiners seining at the confluence of Chatham Strait and Icy Strait, just East of Hoonah.
Once we rounded the corner into Icy Strait, we were awestruck with this view.

Karen & I have been here before, but we've never seen the mountains as it has always been raining in the past.
Clearly, we spied something of interest to port (left as you face the bow of the boat).   Wanna guess what we spied???






Humpbacks.   There were about 6-7 of them.   We watched them from afar for about 20 minutes.   They were bubble net feeding, breaching, rolling, and spyhopping.   We also saw about this same time, sea otters, Orca, Pacific White-Sided dolphins, and eagles.

Here is a video of a portion of our whale encounter.   This is uncut, so you get a sense of the patience and perseverance one has to muster to capture these guys on camera.   This clip is about 10 minutes long, with pretty much nothing happening in the middle five minutes.   You have been warned!

The entrance to Hoonah Harbor is pretty well marked.   Not sure the story behind this, but it is always sad to see a boat in this situation.
Welcome to Hoonah, aka Xunaa.
We walked about a half mile to the local and only grocery store/market to pick up some needed essentials (like eggs & scallions).

On the way, we stopped by this carvery, where the local masters are carving totems.   It was closed when we were there, but the scent of fresh cedar chips was everywhere.   Lovely!
Some examples of their local totem carving craftsmanship.   I don't understand how to read a totem, but each one tells a story.

Just some pretty Rhododendrons in full bloom.

Karen made a chicken bacon tortellini in an alfredo-ish sauce.

Just some photos at sunset, 2230 (10:30pm) tonight.   Tonight, the Summer Solstice, the sun set at approximately 320 degrees.  That should mean that it rises at about 040 degrees.   That's pretty far north.


That's John & Susan aboard Blue Redd.

Selfie time.
Our very contented Captain...
Sunset, yet again.

Tomorrow, we stay in Hoonah and provision for the Glacier Bay leg of our trip.   Stay tuned.








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