Sailing SE Alaska

July 19, 2012 NE arm of Goulding Harbor to bay East of Dry Pass

     We slept in and had a leisurely morning, reading, drinking tea. We’re only going a short hop over to the bay East of Dry Pass today so we’re in no hurry. In the afternoon Pete rowed me to the head of the NE arm of Goulding Harbor to look for bears. Bears are everywhere here in the grassy areas on the shore. As we got to the head there was a huge grassy area to the left that I believe was a creek but was so full of grass I wasn’t sure. There was a sow and two cubs, about 500 feet from us. She raised up on her hind legs and did a short bluff charge then raised on her hind legs again. As Pete started to row quickly away, she and her cub retreated into the woods.
    There was another creek there also and Pete rowed us a little way up the creek. There were a lot of small moon jelly fish that Pete said stay in the lower layer where the salt water is. Kelsey had seen some yellow Monkey flowers on the creek bank yesterday and that night read that they were edible. We were able to row up right to the bank and harvest some from the boat--as he was doing so, we noticed another smallish griz on the bank of the opposite shore and I managed to video tape him as he slowly walked away from us. A huge towering boulder rose beside the creek, covered in moss and red columbine flowers.
     A beautiful row back to the boat as the misty rain turned into more of a downpour and we were quite wet as we got back to Privateer. Pete started a fire in the stove as Kelsey served us another delicious lunch (quinoa with roasted corn and black beans with guacamole topping).
      Once we were warm and full, we put up our anchor and went a short distance to the mouth of Goulding Harbor and turned into the bay East of Dry Pass. As we entered the bay, I spotted my first grizzly--very large and no cubs, so probably a male. (we’ve seen 31 grizzlies so far in just 8 days) I was proud of the fact that I finally spotted one before Pete and Kelsey--who have eagle eyes.

We’re now anchored in 40 feet of water in another lovely spot. We can see Mt. Lydonia to the SE. Pete rowed Trinka to explore the depths of Dry Pass (very shallow). On the other side of Dry Pass is the open ocean. When he came back, Kelsey took a turn and while she was gone, a misty rain started and suddenly a beautiful rainbow appeared that arched over Mt. Lydonia. Life is great!