Homestead Bed & Breakfast Gustavus

... paddled down wind and upstream into the river. We ditched our kayaks in the tall grass, then took a hike along the river. The wildflowers were amazing. Kimber picked a chocolate lily. The root is edible and is a good source of starch. It wasn't terribly tasty, but I suppose if your were starving, it wouldn't be bad. We found no bears, but lots of tracks. In one area there were bear, deer, and river otter ...

... There was a group of about twenty, doing flips and twirling around, just off the bow of the boat. I expected one of them to pull up with a beach ball on his nose, but apparently they don't have access to them here. We observed the animals for about an hour before we left the area. We chugged back to Bartlett Cove, our origination point, to pick up the crab traps for a fresh dinner. The rest of the day was spent on the water, sailing up to Dundas Bay. Along the way, we saw some orcas ...

... Canada, but it now sits on the US side of the border. There was, of course, an argument over whose glacier it was, and the international body that governs these things (can't remember the name) awarded its possession to the US. But I digress, we got to watch the glacier calf several pieces of ice, as well as row by a number of bird species. I took a lot of pictures of puffins, but I can't tell if they've come out or not. Between their ...

... beds, a sink, and an attached water closet with toilet and Little tiny shower. I have the top bunk, which includes a porthole and window. It should be interesting trying to get to sleep tonight with all the light streaming in. It doesn't get dark until well after midnight and the the sun rises again around three-thirty.<br> We shoved off from the Glacier Bay dock and headed north. Almost immediately we saw five arcs traveling south. Their spray glistened off the bay ...

... doing everything for the yesterday was in a flight attendant's outfit. "Do you think she does that too?" I mentioned to Deb. A large delivery truck was dressed up as a Moose, for the local lodge. A small pick-up truck was made over as a bee, with all the pre-schoolers in the bed. There was a fish fry scheduled for later in the day, with the benefits going to the pre-school. "Bee there, Bee hungry," the tailgate read. The Glacier Bay ...

... from Glacier Bay's mouth. This is the fastest documented glacier retreat ever.[citation needed] Scientists are hoping to learn how glacial activity relates to climate changes from the retreat. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve includes 9 tidewater glaciers. 4 actively calve (shed) icebergs into the bay. Wildlife in the area includes bears, deer, mountain goats, whales, and waterfowl.

The big news from here at Point Adolphus is that I learned to skim stones. Iain mastered it first and then taught me. Two felt like a triumph after a life a failure and five felt like winning the lottery. Okay. In other news, we saw five groups of ottersvon the fifteen minute trip over from Gustavus. Then while we were setting up camp, a whale came by about fifty yards off the beach ...

... 4,000 metre deep water. Tonight we were treated to a chocoholic buffet for dessert and it was magnificent. Every possible chocolate cake, dessert, icecream etc was there. The staff on board are excellent and the food and service superb.

... from the sea to keep the drinks cold. We dropped the Rangers back at Gustavus and left the largest National Park thankful that these areas are left as pristine as possible. Back on board we were resting and again got the call - "thar she blows" and spent a wonderful afternoon watching the humpback whales out of our window. After dinner it became rough again as we entered the Gulf Of Alaska but the tablets have helped.

... of the afternoon. It was the last formal night and also lobster night and the food was very good. Both pairs of our tablemates made it again tonight and we had a nice evening. During dinner we spotted several whales playing outside our window. We are lucky to be seated near a window on the port side. We determined that the whales were Orca rather than humpback. We got quite a few pictures and also pictures of the procession of the Baked Alaska. The ...