Nature, wishing to make amends for treating us so rudely with her storms, now blessed us with climatic perfection. On the day of our departure from Yakutat, the earliest rays of the subarctic sun rose in a cloudless sky painting the far off ice shrouded mountains in muted shades of orange. As we said our goodbyes and cast off lines, all of us regretted leaving this magical bay, one of the very special places on earth. […]
Passing out of the frequently rough seas of the Gulf of Alaska into the table flat waters of the Inside Passage brings with it dramatic topographic contrast. Along the Gulf’s shore, as we have seen, stand wildly exuberant expressions of Nature at its finest, a visual wonderland that awes even the most jaded of travelers. […]
We are now passing between the Big and Little Diomede Islands, which are encased in dense clouds visible only in their lower elevations. Still, even with the limited visibility they are impressive pinnacles rising from the sea and from them the coasts of Russia and Alaska are easily visible. […]
These photos are taken from the waterway, called Pond Inlet, between Bylot Island and the north end of Baffin Island and from the Inuit hamlet sited on it, called by the same name. Anyone who ever doubted that native North Americans came over the Bering Sea Land Bridge from Asia will have all doubts erased by the photos of Inuit in Pond Inlet.
Photos taken in and around Ilulissat, include lots of ice. The aerial shot is a view of the Ilulissat Glacier in the distance and its fjord choked in ice. The glacier has retreated 6.5 miles in the past 10 years. At one time in the distant past, it reached all the way out to its opening to the sea, a distance of about 35 miles. […]