Today we cruised south through Frederick Sound, bound for the town of Petersburg on Mitkof Island.  We had another clear day with calm seas and great mountain and glacier views surrounding us.  We had great whale sightings as we cruised, too.  Both humpback whales and a small pod of killer whales!  Most of our crews had close encounters, turning off their engines and drifting on the water, hearing the forceful exhales of the whales and watching their behavior as they fed and foraged.  What a special and memorable experience.

After three nights at anchor it was fun to hop onto a dock and go explore a small Alaskan fishing town.  We arrived to Petersburg in the early afternoon and all of our crews took advantage of the amenities the town offered.  We made calls to check in on things back home, did laundry, re-provisioned, and shopped for souvenirs.  Petersburg is small town of about 3,000 people.  Its economy is still largely driven by commercial fishing, and our boats seemed small compared to all of the fishing vessels on the dock.

Petersburg is known as “Little Norway” in Southeast Alaska.  Its Norwegian heritage dates back to the founder of the town.  It is also the self-proclaimed Halibut capitol of the world. The town is not much more than a couple of blocks along the water, and it is accessible only by boat or plane.  This added to the authentic feel of the town and made it easy to explore from the harbor.

Tonight, we had the Grand Adventure crew over for dinner.  We shared a lovely meal with them.  The highlight was the fresh crab dip that Myriam made from the crab they caught the day before.  Despite living on different sides of the country, it was fun to find out how many similarities we shared.  Thanks for the nice evening Grand Adventure!