17th June. Hoonah to Berg Bay, Glacier Bay national Park. 47nm

It was raining lightly in the morning but it cleared by 9am and we cast off at 10am for our trip across Icy Strait to check into Bartlett cove in Glacier Bay.

We raised the sails in light NW winds and made our way to Bartlett Cove. As we approached cove a weather warning came across channel 16. A line of thunder storms squalls with lightening and gusts of 40 knots was heading our way in the next 30 minutes. We dropped the sails and made our way to the dock. Just in time. We had just tied up and we watched the squall line come in with heavy rain and gusts to 37 knots pinned us to the dock. It was all over in a few minutes and then the sun came out again. We checked in to the park, had our park orientation, a brief video with warnings about approaching whales other regulations and no-go zones in the park. I was a bit disappointed with the rangers, they did not seem to be that knowledgeable about the park and one admitted that they had not been in much of the waters so could not comment on where to go.   

Sea Otters

Berg Bay

Steve and Ben doing their morning exercise...

Glacier bay national park limits boats entering the park. At present only 25 pleasure boats and 2 cruise ships are allowed in this park which is about 60 miles long and about 20 miles wide (approx). A permit is required to enter the park which I had applied for whilst in Port Mc Neill on Vancouver island in April. Once we completed the course we headed off to Berg bay on the western side of the park. Just on the outside of the bay we spotted a humpback whale breaching a couple of miles away and inside the sheltered waters of the bay many sea otters, much larger than others we have seen, floated about on their backs eating or just chillin about.  As we had the bay to ourselves we decided to stay another day and explore the area in the kayaks.