Day 11: Fougner Bay to Eucott Bay

Today was the most amazing day. We woke to sunshine and calm seas, and started out at 7 AM. First off, Burke Channel is gorgeous, like mile after mile of mountains and cliffs and waterfalls gorgeous.

Quite a bit of driftwood floated by with their bird passengers.

A seven-bird log - is it a record?

A four-eagle log!

Then within an hour we saw a spout, then more spouts! They were not very close, but we saw three different groups of humpback whales making their way south down the channel while we headed north.

After that, I tried to make breakfast, but Ryan yelled out that dolphins were heading our way. So I turned down the oatmeal and scampered out on deck for our next marine mammal encounter.

A google search this evening taught us that these were Pacific white-sided dolphins, for those interested. The dolphins came by in large groups throughout the day, and would often follow along for a while. They were very good at staying underwater while you were waiting with your camera poised, then leaping in great displays of cetacean acrobatics as soon as you put it down.

I have a million shots of empty water and splashes to get these 9 reasonably interesting photos. After a while we gave up trying to capture the experience and just experienced it.

The scenery continued to wow. With narrow waterways bordered by sheer cliffs and steep, tree-covered slopes, it reminded us a lot of Fiordland in New Zealand, but also Alaska.

During one lull in the marine mammal show, Ryan saw an intriguing little notch in the nautical charts, so we pulled over to that side of the channel to take a closer look, and we had another fabulous nature experience. The notch was formed by sheer cliffs and the point held a waterfall.

We could boat right into the notch, the rocks were so steep! I sat on the bow with my camera, trying to capture how amazing it was. Look at those trees perched on the cliff!

After the waterfall encounter, we just ignored - or at least, enjoyed more casually - the continuing stream of passing dolphins and whipped up a delicious (if I do say so myself) poke lunch.

And still, the day kept getting better! So many exclamation points! We reached our anchorage just as the chop was starting to get up for the afternoon, but things were quiet in the bay. There were already two other boats there, but who could blame them - Eucott Bay is beautiful. Someone in our guide book compared it to Yosemite. You can see what they mean in today’s anchorage picture.

Half Dome in Canada?

After anchoring, we dropped the dinghy and went ashore for the highlight of Eucott Bay - the natural hot springs. We had heard reports of the pool getting too hot, but the temperature was PERFECT. We brought a local brew with us to keep cool and hydrated while soaking.

Our afternoon soak lasted a little longer than perhaps we had intended when a brown bear started grazing on the sedges near our hot pool. We joked that we put ourselves in the soup pot.

Now we are sitting snug in our boat with the heat running while the rain rattles on the roof. Ryan just called me to take a picture of some passing sea otters with my long lens, but I had left the sim card plugged into the iPad and my shots were not recorded. So, no otter pictures, sorry.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring. Can’t wait to find out!

Today route (55 miles)