In our last video episode, we set sail from the Aleutian Islands heading east for the remote Alaska Peninsula. In this next one, we continue our 2016 voyage onward to Kodiak and then north to the stunning scenery of the Kenai Fjords. Sailing from tranquil coves to calving glaciers, we witness breaching humpback whales, sea otters, huge flocks of puffins, high snow-capped peaks, and deep fjord anchorages. Hope you enjoy!
P.S. You can see all the previous episodes on our new Videos page.
Here (finally!) is the next episode in our video series:
Our last video episode covered our passages south from the “top of America” at Point Barrow in the Arctic back to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, once again to be CELESTE’s winter home. So this episode is the beginning of the following season.
Winter 2015/16 was not nearly so kind to CELESTE as the previous winter – a typhoon from Japan hit the Aleutian Islands that year, causing severe damage throughout the town and harbor. So we return in June 2016 to find some major repairs to do. But between installing a new chain plate and readying CELESTE for sea, we also find time to observe the incredible wildlife of the area – humpback whales, sea otters, Arctic ground squirrels, and bald eagles.
Hope you enjoy this episode!
P.S. I’m taking a break from catching up on our Pacific voyage this year to catch up on these videos from a couple of years ago. So stay tuned for the next Arctic Voyage (really just Alaska from now on) video!
Sea Lions on Monterey breakwater
After spending the month of November on the East Coast, Seth and I returned to CELESTE in the marina in Monterey, California. We arrived just in time for the Holiday Boat Parade, of sailboats and motor boats bedecked in Christmas lights.
Monterey marina ready for Christmas!
A big departure from my earlier Critter Posts: this one doesn’t live in Alaska and doesn’t breathe air! The Blue Tang is a reef fish native to the tropical Atlantic, so with this Critter Post, we’re harkening back to Seth’s and my global circumnavigation aboard HERETIC, during which we snorkeled with Blue Tangs in the Caribbean on the way out (2006/7) and the way home (2010).
A few months ago, Cruising World magazine picked up the series of videos we’d made of our 2015 voyage to the Alaskan Arctic. I also posted the first three – the “trailer” and Episodes 1 and 2 – here on this blog and on YouTube. Then we were busy sailing, so I didn’t get around to posting Episode 3 until now. But here it is! Hope you enjoy!
Pribilofs to Nome, Bering Sea, Alaska (July 2015)
Four days sailing north across the Bering Sea to reach the gold-rush town of Nome where we meet today’s miners, try to catch a salmon, spot nesting birds, and encounter herds of muskoxen – a true denizen of the Arctic.
And because it’s been so long since Episodes 1 and 2, here they are again as well:
All my critter posts so far have focused on mammals, but we see so many interesting birds while sailing that I thought it was time for an avian critter post. Two years ago, on the Alaskan North Slope, we were lucky enough to see a snowy owl. We watched him for hours as he swept low over the tundra and perched on whalebones. Since it was summer in the Arctic, he was hunting in full daylight (even though it was close on midnight), and the low angle of the sun made for lovely light for photography. Continue reading
Last year on our way south through the Alaska Panhandle, we spotted our first American mink, the animal I’ve decided to make the subject of my fourth Critter Post.
Basic Facts: Continue reading
