Looking back at rain, fog and glaciers in the Inside Passage.

 Now I know this blog is supposed to be about glaziers and grand scenery but I couldn't resist slipping these 2 planes in. When we sailed out of Vancouver around 5pm. the sea planes were taking off one after the other. I have know idea what make of aircraft the twin engine is, but is the single engine one a deHavilland Beaver, I think they stopped making those in the mid 60s which would make this at least 50 years old. Around 7am we sailed out of the lee of Vancouver Island and it was rock & roll for about 4hours sailing up The Queen Charlotte Sound until Haida Gwaii gave us some protection from a big storm out in the Pacific. The photo above is looking south after everything stopped rolling around.

 

This photo was taken just after noon looking towards the Canadian mainland, the light was amazing.

 We have jumped a couple of days here, we are just approaching Glacier Bay after visiting Juneau and Skagway, nothing much to report about either of them except the weather was foul.

 The visit to Glacier Bay brought a welcome change in the weather, to think a week before this photo we were in the Okanagan Valley in shorts and tshirts.

 Mum and junior having a stroll on the beach First glacier sighting  

 We parked right along side this one The Margerie Glacier for about half an hour watching it calving.

 I think this is The John Hopkins Glacier

 Not sure which one this is. I took this picture  to show how dirty they become as they drag all this dirt and stone down the mountainside.

 

I think this is the Reid Glacier. The bay is full of them, hence Glacier Bay  

 

Steller Sea Lions on South Marble Island

 

The weather was so bad by now the boat had to take the inside passage all the way back to Vancouver, we were quite pleased about that as they don't normally travel the Canadian part, leaving the American passage and then going down Queen Charlotte Sound. Good as it was to do the Canadian bit we couldn't see much because of the rain, it was calm though, I believe the winds were hurricane force on the Pacific side. Couple of pics to give you some idea.

 

This is Bella Coola. The rain had eased off by the time we arrived here. The captain warned us to hold on after we reached the end of the fiord, as we just had a short distance of the Sound to cross before we  sailed into the lee of Vancouver Island, as it happened all was well and not as rough as expected.