onboard the Great Bear II 8 June 2023

Coming back into the main inlet, two sleeping Humpbacks, one of them probably the one we saw last night, too far away to photograph. These two are apparently sleeping on the surface, breathing huge whoofs about every four minutes that fill the air with a boiled cabbage funk. We waited patiently for them to awake up for half an hour: the hallmark of Eric’s approach to viewing nature. A beautiful morning with the thinnest veil of stratus shielding us from yesterday’s unfiltered sun. Travel day . . . meaning I catch up with photos and writing.

Lizzette Falls dead ahead. This one is fed by a good sized eponymous lake behind the ridge.

Traveling along at about 7 knots, today’s trip, with assorted slow-downs and dawdles for Humpback Whales (six today, I think) this is a seven hour run from yesterday’s anchorage to today’s. We ran past two salmon pen operations that look like they come from an evil planet. Apparently the southern First Nations, finally understanding the emptiness of the promises made about ecological prudence and gainful employment, have outlawed these atrocities, but these northern groups haven’t yet come to the party, despite the fact that employment is rare because the systems are all automated and remotely monitored now. Greed in action.

We joined the Inland Passage just in time to be buffeted by the BC Ferry’s wake. Passed a marker buoy being put to good use by a family of Stellar Sea Lions; the patriarch roared at us, but only the young one was interested enough to look.

And then we came into the head of our destination inlet, ringed by cliffs, mountains, and a series of waterfalls trailing down a verdant valley from the snow fields and finally culminating in a spectacular waterwheel-topped waterfall – more about this place tomorrow. We will spend two days here.

The cod caught yesterday came around again as dinner, breaded with panko and pistachio crumbs sauced with savory lemon. We also had Cod Cheeks, very different texture, finer more columnar musculature and more intense flavor, much the better cut, everyone agreed. You’d need a lot of 28 pound Cods to make a cheek dinner. Homemade – ship-made? – ice cream (Chef Jen is a wizard) with the apple pie-cake from two nights ago.

Our traveling companions Sandra and Trina, both from British Columbia. Trina and Captain Eric attended 8th Grade together.

Rochelle took photos marked with this R