Misty Fiords National Monument, Alaska

Hi everyone;
This has been a really amazing week. We left Ketchikan on Tuesday of last week a cruised up Behm Canal which goes all the way around Revillagigedo Island,which is the island that Ketchikan is located on. The first night we stopped at Neets Bay and spent two days there. We saw a black bear on the beach one night. On the morning we left we saw two killer whales up real close. Our next stop was Fitzgibbon Cove where we went fishing and I caught a halibut of about 30 pounds. We also saw a black bear here. From there we pulled into a bay where the Chickamin River dumps in and saw a mother grizzly and two cubs. We could not get very close because of the shallow water so was not able to get any pictures. That night we stayed at Rudyerd Bay at a place called Punchbowl Cove. Never before have we seen scenery like this. The cliffs go straight up 3000 feet with water falls everywhere. While eating lunch the second day,one of the rocks on the beach moved. It turned out to be a grizzly. We watched him about an hour and he got fairly close to us. What a treat. Tonight we are back in Ketchikan to pick up some mail and get more supplies. Tomorrow we will head out to Wrangle,taking about a week to get there. It has rained the past two days but tonight the sun came out.
The salmon fishing still has not started around here yet, about 3-4 weeks away. So we've had to settle for crab, shrimp, and halibut. What a drag!
I probably won't have Internet or phone service for another week. Will leave here tomorrow,mid-morning if anyone need to call us. Hope all is well at home. Russ, Pat, Maddie

We're in Alaska !!!

Yesterday we entered Alaska waters,and tonight we are tied up in Ketchihan at one of the marinas. This is a very busy place. There were four big cruise ships here today and there are float planes coming and going all day every few minutes. Lots of commerical fish boats tied up in here too. Clearing customs was a breeze.
Tomorrow we will head out but stay fairly close to Ketchikan as my mother is going o send us some mail so we will come back in about 10 days to pick it up. We have not seen any mail since we left in April. I bought some more bottom fishing tackle today and we will need to get Alaska fishing license's also. The salmon are just starting to show up here. Alaska does not go on daylight savings time and its now 10:45pm your time and it's still not dark out. They average 17:49 hours of daylight here this time of the year. See you guys, Russ, Pat, Maddie

Get out of the " BIG GUYS " way!!!!!!!!

'We passed this BC Ferry today as we were heading north. This is why we have our radar on all the time because you never know what might sneak up behind you. This actually is kinda small compared to the cruise ships that travel these waters.
Today we are in Prince Rupert,about as far north as you can get without actually being in Alaska. Sorry I haven't posted anything for a few days but we have really been out in the boon docks. Saw several more black bears,one in the harbor we stayed in last night. Once again there are three other boats here we have spent time with at some other place in the past few weeks.
We can't believe how nice the weather has been. Two nights ago it was 85 in the boat at 7:30pm. We are seeing some really awesome scenery. The channels are sometimes very narrow and the sides go straight up 3000 feet, and the water is 1700 feet deep. We traveled one and half days without seeing another boat.
Most of the boats here tonight will be going to Alaska in the next few days. This is kind of the jumping off place. Monday morning if the weather report is good, we will head out too. The first day we will go to a place called Foggy Bay, then on to Ketchikan the following day to clear customs back into the USA. This is the last of the open water crossing we have going north. Of course we will need to cross them all again coming back. Keep in touch you guys. Just click on post a comment at the end of these and say hi! Hope everyone is well, Russ, Pat, Maddie