Elfin Magic

That is the Fairweather Range from the south as we were nearing the little community of Elfin Cove.  Mt Fairweather, the peak on the left, is just over 15,000' high.   While it doesn't show well in this photo, the Brady Glacier is just to the left of the island.

As we were leaving Hoonah, Karen spotted this workboat on the tidal grid.

Our ever-vigilant Admiral searching for whales around Point Adolphus.   It is common to spot whales here and we did so, but most of them were too far to photograph.   You do know that 4 out of 5 whales surveyed admitted to being shy...

When we were steaming west in Icy Strait, we met fellow Selene owner Greg & Marilan on Moonstruck.   So, I did what any good fellow boater would do - I took their picture and sent it to them.

And they were doing the same thing in reverse!

It doesn't get better than this.  I'm losing credibility with people when I warn them that Icy Strait can be downright horrible.  Two out of six passages were indeed horrible.  I'll take these conditions any day!

We can almost see the tops of the Fairweather Range.  We are west of Glacier Bay looking north.

Transiting westbound in S. Inian Pass.  I expect there to be a lot of water coming through that narrow gap in the islands, ahead.

To the right with the cloud hovering above it is Cape Spencer. That marks the edge of the Gulf of Alaska.  On this side is Cross Sound; on the other side is... 

I had to put another photo of the Fairweather Range in.

The view from our side-tie at the transient dock in Elfin Cove.

Looking back up the transient dock towards the community of Elfin Cove.

At the head of the transient dock is the float plane dock.  There are a lot of planes in & out of here.

See, that's close.   Only about 1' between us and the tail of that float place.

Elfin Cove is a boardwalk community of 20 year-round residents and maybe 200 in the summer.  It is quaint, in good shape, and exceedingly picturesque.

The Roald Amundsen explorer cruise ship was anchored outside the little harbor.  They are on their way to Nome, the Northwest Passage, and final stop in Greenland.   Don't give Karen any ideas!

The primary commerce here is fishing tourism.  Those float planes get loaded with boxes and boxes of fish and their proud fisherpersons taking their prizes home.

There is a little creek cascading down the steep mountainside.  We were on the boardwalk in this photo; the creek passes under it and disappears into the bay.

Again, but with fewer people obscuring the view.

Eagle-eyed Karen spotted this eagle up in a tree right above the boardwalk.

What Elfin town wouldn't want gnomes?

The tag reads "Alaskan Mosquito Net".  Hilarious and about right.  Though the mosquitos here are tiny compared to the monsters in Denali.

We were lucky in Denali that the little mosquitos didn't carry us back to their nest for the big ones...

Helpful in case you didn't know where you are.  You are blissfully in pretty much nowhere here.

Clever yard art carved from the tree that used to be here.   This is its stump and base.   Looks like Alfred to me.   What do you think?

Karen made a delightful chicken/spicy Italian sausage in a creamy yellow pepper-tomato sauce dish.   No pasta as we are trying to lose the few pounds we gained eating out in Denali last week.

Good Night!