The bright morning sun and the grumblings of sea lions lounging on the channel marker buoy rang in our morning departure from Petersburg. Mother Goose headed North in Fredrick sound headed for Tracy Arm Cove. Frederick sound is renowned for its humpback sightings and the crews on Mother Goose were ready to see if the rumors were true. Binoculars glued to our eyes, we cruised along calling out sea lions and porpoises but no humpbacks. The clever crew on Bonum Vitae even played them a song over the radio, but still no humpbacks. The fleet turned the corner into Stephens Passage bringing the castle like structure of Five Finger Lighthouse, Alaska’s first lighthouse to be built in 1902, into view. Just as we pulled level to the lighthouse – BWHOOSH!!! Blows on the port side! Blows on the starboard bow! We had humpbacks everywhere!! Floating, the fleet gazed out across the water on blows and flukes in all directions. After a while, the fleet fondly said goodbye to our humpbacks and with a backwards glance, continued up Stephens passage towards Tracy Arm Cove.

That night the fleet rafted up all six boats, creating a little Mother Goose neighborhood right in Tracy Arm Cove. During an evening dinghying cruise, Patos spotted three Brown Bears on the shore! We watched as the three little brown bears, only barely a year old, played and hunted on the beach. Suddenly, out of the brush and grasses came Mama Bear. She stopped, smelled the wind, gave our smattering of dinghies one long look before ushering her babies back into the brush for the night. Soon after, as the perpetual Alaskan sun began to sink below the tree line, the fleet also retired for the night. Not before raising a glass, filled with glacial ice, to the wild beauty of Tracy Arm Cove.