Chipper Fish and Roland’s Good Deed in Hoonah

July 12-13 – Hoonah

From Pelican we decided to make a 7-plus hour cruise to Hoonah, and enjoyed seeing more humpbacks in South Inian Pass.

 

Coming into Hoonah

We were excited to visit Hoonah. It’s reportedly the largest Tlingit settlement in Southeast Alaska and its close proximity to Glacier Bay made it a perfect stopover before meeting our next crew, Lee & JoAnn, who were flying into Gustavus in a few days.

Motoring into the harbor I was immediately struck by a graveyard we passed entering the channel with an old totem pole at its perimeter. It was a somber introduction to Hoonah.

 

Chipper Fish

During our stay, we had a number of meals at Chipper Fish, and passed on greetings to its owner Kristi from her Aunt Karen in Pelican.

One morning at breakfast we met a Tlingit elder by the name of Ken, who we ran into later that day after dinner when he was painting the bottom of his boat Weather Oar Knot on the grid at the end of our harbor. As we struck up a conversation with him he told us he was a manager at Glacier Bay, and it suddenly dawned on us he was also the soft-spoken native spokesperson in a video we watched at the Park during our orientation meeting.

Noticing that it would soon be dark and Ken still had a long way to go to finish his bottom paint, Roland generously offered to help him paint.

 

Ken and Roland putting bottom pain on Weather Oar Knot

At 10 pm they were still going at it, but thanks to Roland’s help, Weather Oar Knot had a fresh coat of bottom paint before nighttime fell. And Roland no doubt had the appreciation of a new Tlingit friend.

A Dog Day Afternoon and Pelican Good-Bye

July 11 -- Pelican

Rick, Judy, Roland and I enjoyed the day in Pelican exploring the “town”.

That took all of about 10 minutes and then we luxuriated (because I didn’t have to cook) in a hearty breakfast at the Lisianski Inlet Cafe, where Judy was served the largest omelet I’ve ever seen.

Karen, the owner, heard our next stop was Hoonah and asked us to look up her niece Kristi, a talented chef and owner of Chipper Fish while we were in town (I of course took note of that, always looking for good food at port).

We walked the docks and had fun looking at all of the “vessels” in the harbor.

But dogs seem to be having the most fun in town. Our friends (and suppliers of the best salmon in Alaska), Deb and Keith of Cross Sounds Seafood, have a new border collie named Francine, who is terribly shy and spent most of her time hiding behind Deb.

 

Francine.

We also met an engaging and talented artist, Eric Beamer, whose 10-week old Sheltie, named Truffle, stole my heart. (Later, we bought a piece of wood-engraved artwork by Eric from a gallery in Sitka).

 

Truffle

And running and playing along side Francine was Otis. It’s anybody’s guess what breed he is but he’s a sweetie with a lovely face. He and Francine reminded me of Lady and the Tramp.

 

And Otis.

All the dogs were but a distraction though for saying good-bye to our friends.

 

A sad farewell to Judy and Rick.

Rick and Judy packed their bags. Their “airport” was at the end of our dock, so the luggage cart just stopped at our boat to pick up their luggage on its way down to meet the plane.

 

Luggage cart headed down to the end of the dock to meet the seaplane.

At 5:15 we were waving good-bye as their float plane made its ascent over Lisianski Inlet toward Juneau.

Losing another crew that was so well trained!!!!

Thrill of a Lifetime! Roland & Rick Flashed By Infamous Rosie

July 10-12 – Pelican

It’s hard to visit Pelican and not fall in love with the town. And it’s even harder to explain why.

Prior to arriving in Pelican with Rick & Judy early afternoon on the 10^th, we’d been rapturing about our experiences in Pelican three years ago and its “unique” character.

Located deep in Lisianski Inlet, bordering the Gulf of Alaska, Pelican sits on a mile-long boardwalk overlooking mountains lined with waterfalls and used to be the site of a major fishery. The population, dependent on who you talk to and the time of the year, is anywhere from 60-120 people.

The harbor contains perhaps the most “colorful” array of boats you’ll see in Alaska ... downright derelict vessels waiting to sink, finely crafted hand-made sailboats,  decked out charter boats, pleasure yachts and hard working commercial fishing boats.

 

Roland checking out a new "Valiant"

And the array of characters walking the docks or boardwalk along town is just as varied. Sadly, since the closing of the fish processing plant, Pelican has been in a state of flux.

 

Highliner Fish Lodge at the top of the docks was a rundown crack house before the new owners bought it and turned it into a lodge for its fish charter business. Now the rooms run over $300/night and it's completely booked.

Highliner also knows where to fish. Here are two halibut, one clocking 376 pounds, that were caught the day we there by guests at the lodge. They are bigger than Judy!

While a couple of new fish charter lodges are trying to reinvigorate Pelican, bringing in guests, jobs, and revenue, many in town are reticent or downright resentful of the success of these new businesses ... harkening back to the days when Pelican was flush with commercial fishermen.

Putting small town politics aside, the one institution in Pelican that remains constant is Rosie’s ... officially known as the “World Famous Rose’s Bar & Grill, Museum and Gift Shop” ... and it is run by the famous (or infamous, depending on which way you look at it) Rosie Miller. Allegedly, Rosie originally was a commercial fisherwoman, but fell in love with Pelican and sold her 62-foot fishing boat back in 1973 for a down payment to buy her bar.

No stop in Pelican is complete without a drink at Rosie’s, so that’s just what we did the night we arrived.

I of course wanted to see if my signature was still on the ceiling from our visit in 2010 (signing the ceiling is a longtime tradition at Rosie’s) and it was!

After sitting down and ordering our drinks, Rick asked to meet Rosie and she arrived at our table feeling no pain, explaining her friend had bought her a few shots of tequila to celebrate the bar’s 40^th anniversary and Rosie’s 80^th birthday ... a fact she repeated at least 3 more times before we left.

But the real eye-opener happened minutes later when she grabbed the bottom of her shirt and lifted it over her head ... flashing her 80-year-old basoombas at Roland and Rick (sorry ... too quick to capture on film!). And just as well, as Roland said later, it was not a pretty sight! But there’s no question that Rosie’s quick wit and penchant for fun has done more to put Pelican on the map over the past 40 years than anyone or anything else in town.

She’s a book waiting to be written!

Singing Whales and Hungry Sea Lions ... A National Geographic Kind of Day!!!!

July 10 – Inian Cove to Pelican

Today was the kind of day you want to freeze-frame ... so you can live it forever!!!!

It began with our first cup of coffee on the upper back deck, where we listened to the sound of whales spouting in the distance. The sight of Mount Fairweather was the perfect backdrop for this amazing daybreak experience ... and you could see the mist from the whales spouting with that majestic snow covered pinnacle in the distance.

We woke Judy & Rick, and after a quick breakfast, dropped the tender and headed out with cameras in hand to photograph the whales up close and personal ... just like our friends at National Geographic!

It was a beautiful day, sunny and fairly warm. We came within 100-200 yards of the whales. At one point, Roland turned the motor off and we sat there listening to the sounds of the whales singing, a high-pitched moan unlike anything you’ve ever heard before.

It was like wild kingdom – we’d hear a spout as a whale would surface in the water near the tender, the sea lions were roaring, the eagles were screeching, and the waves were lapping against the tender.

After watching the whales, we headed through the inlet and watched the sea lions. It was perfect timing, as the sea lions were in a feeding frenzy – diving for fish up and down in the water all around our tender.

Sea birds were hovering over the sea lions, frantically scouring the waters for left over fish scraps.

Steller sea lions live a tough life ... cruising along the shore we viewed their rookeries, where the male sea lions dominate the female harems in their territory. Literally every sea lion is covered with battle scars, and they are constantly fighting with each other.

On land they look like hundreds of pounds of blubber, but once they glide in the water, they are graceful, fast swimmers and entertaining to watch.

And its easy to see where they got their name ... their head really does resemble a lion.

It was an amazing experience to be in the middle of so many of them actively swimming and fishing in the water, at times coming up literally right next to our tender.

We could have watched the sea lions for hours, but had to head back to Engelenbak to pull anchor and catch a slack tide getting out of Inian Pass to head to Pelican.

An amazing morning that mere photos will never adequately capture. But the memories will last a lifetime!