Roland and Lee Encounter Rosie’s Infamous Boudoir in Pelican

July 22 – Inian Cove to Pelican

Despite the rain, we convinced Lee and JoAnn to bundle up in foul weather gear and took them on a tour of the “neighborhood”.

We hope they weren’t disappointed ... whales, sea lions, cormorants, eagles, sea otters, porpoise – an incredible collection of wildlife. The sea lions were especially in rare form ... throwing fish over the water from their huge mouths in their fishing fury.

We headed back to Engelenbak and made it to Pelican by 2:30.

Maybe it was my imagination, but I think Lee and JoAnn fell in love with Pelican's unique ambiance. As all our guests have.

Our friend Deb dropped off some of their salmon, which made for a delicious on board dinner, and then we all ventured “up town” to Rosie’s for a nightcap. Which is where the real excitement took place!

It began when Rosie greeted JoAnn ... and asked if she was the stripper she’d ordered from Juneau.

No sooner did we order our drinks, and Roland and Lee (as the two only strapping young men in the bar) were recruited back to Rosie’s bedroom ... at the back of the bar ... to help retrieve a mirror that had dropped behind her dresser.

My guess is they weren’t the first to visit Rosie’s boudoir ... and at 80 years old ... I’d say she was a COUGAR long before the term was in vogue!

What Happened to Mount Fairweather?

July 21 – Shag Cove to Inian Cove

We woke Sunday morning to complete fog coverage! 

Lovie parked himself on the steps of the pilothouse ... as if he knew we weren’t going anywhere soon.

Waiting for fog to lift in Shag Cove.

Slowly, the landscape around us began to appear, and we pulled anchor at 9:30 ... but low hanging clouds followed us out of the park and all the way to Inian Cove.

As if on cue, coming up on Point Carolus we came upon some whales feeding. It was nothing like the show we saw back on July 9, but nonetheless spectacular. 

We put the boat in idle and everyone was on deck with cameras in hand!

This was our view on July 10 ...

Same view on July 21... hmmm, I think we are missing a mountain!

As we continue on and dropped anchor in Inian Cove, couldn’t help but take notice of the difference from our last visit ... Mt. Fairweather was no where to be seen!

The Soup Meister ... And Nonstop Fish and Fun in Shag Cove

July 20 – Margerie Glacier to Shag Cove

Talk to any of our guests, and I think they will tell you one of the highlights of their trip (aside from the glaciers, whales, sea lions, bears, crabs and fresh prawns, mountain goats, eagles, sunsets, horizon views, etc,) ... was the soup we had each day for lunch. OK, not at the top of the list, but nonetheless important.

Prior to leaving Vancouver, Roland and I ordered up more than 100 containers of soup in over 20 different varieties from the “Soup Meister” in North Vancouver at the Lonsdale Quay. And it was an investment worth its weight in gold!

Best soup ever ... and every flavor was better than the next ... Carrot Ginger, Roasted Vegetable, Potato Leek, Vegetarian Mushroom, Split Pea, Turkey Milanese, Chicken Vegetable ... we never had one we didn’t like. AND, we never grew tired of soup for lunch!

So the big question that always came up around noontime ... what’s the soup for today!?!

Funny as it may sound, the soup was one of Roland’s most brilliant ideas! It was no fuss lunch (i.e. I didn’t have to cook), and perfect for the chilly weather in Alaska (albeit this year, not so chilly).

So after glacier gazing at Margerie, we warmed up some soup and had lunch on the way down to Shag Cove.

JoAnn helped clean up in the galley after lunch ... nothing better than a good galley-mate!

The boys relaxed up in the pilothouse ... Roland behind the wheel and Lee behind a book.

We headed to Geike Inlet, not too far from the park entrance, and dropped anchor in Shag Cove around 3:20. Which gave us plenty of afternoon left to try jigging for some fish ... despite the threat of rain.

And wouldn’t you know, the fish were biting non-stop.

It took us a while to figure out WHAT was biting, but Lee knew the small barbell on the chin was a telltale ... and sure enough, we discovered we were catching Pacific Tomcods ... and releasing them as fast as they came in.

Fun to catch fish, but the sport wore thin when we soon discovered the fish would keep biting as long as we dropped a hook ... so we soon went inside and cleaned up for dinner.

Another great day!!!!

A Glacially Generous Gesture From a Chance Encounter at Margerie Glacier (with special thanks to Tifany!!!!)

July 20 – Russell Island to Margerie Glacier

Thanks to smart thinking on the part of our Captain, we pulled anchor early to visit Margerie Glacier so we could beat the cruise ships. But thank goodness we didn’t beat them by too much!

Margerie wasn’t calving nearly as much as when we there with Rick & Judy earlier in the month. With less activity, Roland pulled the boat a bit closer to the face of the glacier.

Soon ...  we watched a Norwegian Cruise Ship coming in behind us from the distance. 

We were hoping we wouldn’t be blocking their view ... little did we know ... we are such a SMALL boat!

Fast forward a week or so later ... and this is the email and photos I received on July 29 ...

Hi there. this is probably very random... and clearly you have a million beautiful photos - as I can see on your website and blog... but we were on the NCL cruise ship the same day that you were in Glacier Bay (July 20) and I believe this is you ;)

I have more photos if you want them! (or if you want larger files, let me know)

what a beautiful place~

tifany

Tifany’s photos are extraordinary, and she has no idea how much we appreciate her taking the time to track us down and send copies. It was a very generous and thoughtful gesture.

In thanking her, we had another email exchange ...

Hello Laura. You are so welcome... as I was looking through our pictures, I decided to google the name of your boat to see if I could find out the size of the boat and that way have some reference to share with others! Then when I found your blog, I thought maybe you would welcome some pics of your boat ;) We enjoyed having you there while we were there - so that we could see some scale. WOW, magnificent creation. We felt the same as what you mentioned... so small in this amazing world. beautiful! this was our first time in AK and we LOVED it. I've enjoyed looking through your blog! how very fun to travel like you are... we did enjoy our cruise very much but your version looks much more amazing!!! 

Hope you enjoy these pictures. We may end up with more we can send because these are just from my camera - and my husband was shooting on his camera too. Will send if we come across more ;)

thanks

tifany

Bravo Tifany! We will eternally be grateful ... and you always will be remembered on Engelenbak .. as we plan to frame one of your photos for the interior of our boat.

Again, many thanks.

Laura & Roland