As we were traveling north on our Alaskan Adventure we noticed that most Alaskan locals were wearing the same foot ware: ExraTuf rubber boots referred to as “Sitka Slippers or “Juneau Sneakers”. Fishermen, Harbormasters, women on the streets of Juneau, clerks in the stores and other mariners such as ourselves. We have succumbed and both David & I bought a new pair of boots. We LOVE them…they’re practical, comfortable and will apparently outlive us. I’m not sure it would be appreciated in Bellevue, but here in Alaska, women wear them with dresses and when it’s hot, they just roll the top of the boots down a bit, which is quite a look. They are worn to weddings, funerals, work and parties.

We discovered when Jason & Lauren were here that they were wearing our Sitka Slippers, so when we arrived in Sitka, off we went to the local store to outfit the entire family with new boots…even little Dylan.

Sitka Slippers

Fishing outside of Sitka

While on the subject of looking good, I’m adding a few photos of Sitka and Jason & family as they wouldn’t fit on the last blog.

Waterfall in Red Bluff Bay

Dylan: ready for visiting the Glacier

Our son Jason, his wife Lauren and their 15 month old daughter Dylan joined us July 13th for a wonderful fun filled week. It was thundering and lightning when they landed, but by the time they got to the boat in Auke Bay (Juneau) the sun was out and we had a beautiful cruise south to Taku Harbor. When we came up in June, it was foggy and raining on this route, so it was a wonderful surprise with the sun out to be able to see that there were glorious mountains surrounding us.

We had great weather for our trip up Tracy Arm. Three weeks ago we weren’t able to get to the South Sawyer Glacier because of the thick iceburgs, but Captain Dave managed to navigate through the ice beautifully and Lauren and Jason were able to kayak for an hour and a half getting ao close to the glacier we could barely see them from the boat! We then ventured over to the North Sawyer Glacier where we were able to see it calf three times…what a thrill! And oh, I forgot to mention that on the way we saw 6-8 killer whales!

In Red Bluff Bay (which may just be the most beautiful place in the world) we were about to have dinner when I looked out just one more time to see if we could see any bears and lo and behold there was one! Jas and Lauren hopped in the kayaks and paddled over to watch the grizzly leisurely feasting on grass, of all all things. It was very exciting though just a tad nerve racking for us to watch Jason & Lauren so close to this big creature.

On two different occasions we saw sea otters in the middle of Chatham Strait just leisurely floating on their backs eating and enjoying life. What a hoot, out there in the middle of a huge body of water…totally unexpected.

Fishing was a success with Jason catching a pink salmon (providing us with a delicious dinner), a sliver salmon, multiple baby sculpins (returned to the sea to grow up) and Lauren landing a very nice sized Dungeness crab.

Dylan is now a certified Formo Boat Baby: she loves sleeping on the boat, being outside watching the whales and screams with enthusiasm “Waaaay’ els!” as she makes the whale spouting noise with grand hand gestures. She has very good “sea legs” running around the boat with complete confidence. We celebrated Jas & Lauren’s anniversary aboard with a champagne breakfast and then they flew home. We miss them being with us.

Jason & Lauren kayaking- South Sawyer Glacier, Tracy Arm

Lauren, Jason & Dylan in their Anegada hats

Humpbacks in Frederick Sound

Grizzly bear in Red Bluff Bay

Sea Otter in Chatham Sound

Curious seal

July 8, 2013

We arrived back in Auke Bay (Juneau) the afternoon of July 4th just as the purse seiner fleet was returning from 3 days of successful fishing. We found ourselves surrounded by fishing boats that were rafted six deep astern of us and five deep ahead of us. There was high energy all around and it was fascinating to watch the crews working around their boats, repairing their nets and jockeying these huge vessels around like bathtub toys. One of the boats in front of us festively shot off fireworks at 11:00 which were beautiful against the silhouettes of their boats and the darkening sky.

Our friends Carol-Ann and John joined us on the 6th and after a full day of fishing yesterday, today we spent a delightful day touring Hoonah. Who would have thought that little Hoonah would boast the longest zipline in America and a bar voted one of the top bars in America by Esquire Magazine? We enjoyed a fabulous crab lunch at this well known establishment called The Office (Bar).

July 2, 2013

And we thought we couldn’t catch fish! How about this one? It measured 50″ which according to the book is a 60# halibut, but we don’t think that could be right. All I know is that David had a hard time even holding it up for the photo and had to drag it down the dock to the fish cleaning station. Our freezer is filling up with yummy fish!

50-60# halibut brought in by the Captain

June 31, 2013

We arrived in the small Tlinglet village of Hoonah yesterday afternoon and met some delightful people on the docks, most of whom are in this area because of the great fishing. We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning today and while heading out to go fishing saw our first killer whales (3 Orcas) cruising around. What a beautiful sight!

Orcas cruising near Pinta Rock bell, outside Hoonah.

David’s 2 halibut (21# and 23#!

Sun setting in Hoonah at 10:45

We anchored in 172′ of water, set out the rods and over the next 5 hours David caught 2 halibut (21# and 23#)and a pink salmon… we may become fishermen yet! We were surrounded by huge mountains everywhere we looked, the sun was out and it was truly an awesome afternoon. We are still amazed by the vastness and beauty of this area. We had two new friends with us who we met on the dock and after returning to Hoonah and cleaning the fish we all sat on the flybridge enjoying food and wine until 11:00 when it finally was dark. The days are getting shorter and the sun isn’t rising now until 3:50am.