In Pictures, Part 3 By MichaelAUKE BAY, AK

Since leaving Victoria two months ago, we've been overwhelmed by all we've seen and experienced. Now that we've reached our northern-most point at 59 degrees latitude, we're going to head south, back to Mexico. I thought this was a good time to pause and reflect the past two months chronologically, in the skads of pictures that never made it on to the blog. Back to our regular programming next week. Enjoy!

Elevated homes in Petersburg, Alaska.

This native-inspired art was embedded in the sidewalks
throughout Petersburg, AK.

The main street, downtown Petersburg, AK. Unlike the
towns that cruise ships visit, here there were no jewelry
or souvenir shops, just a drug store, a laundromat,
a grocery store, hardware stores, and a bar--everything
a cruiser needs and all within walking distance.

The food at Inga's Galley in Petersburg, AK was
excellent, every bit of it made from scratch
--and their beer selection was great.

Check out the clouds these little islands were making--between
Petersburg and Juneau, AK.

Four humpback tails are visible in this picture, but on
this day, here where Frederick Sound meets
Stephens Passage, there were at least 60 whales
around us, within an 8-mile radius--dozens of
blow clouds at a time.

It's going to get hard to get used to rolly anchorages again
when we head south. Every night on this passage the boat
has been perfectly still, like sleeping on land.

And this is the downside of Alaska summertime cruising,
where they joke the state bird is the mosquito. Mosquitos
haven't actually been a problem, but a couple anchorages
have had gnat problems--sometimes little biting gnats.
Oh, horseflies too, as big as winches. These things
here on the Pudgy are neither, just small, common flies.
But overall, bugs haven't been as big a problem
as we feared--we haven't even put on
bug repellent.

Eleanor on supervised watch, leaving a channel.
Note the tongue. Kids are allowed in bars here
in Alaska, so long as they are accompanied by
a parent. As a result, we have used teaching the girls
to play pool as an excuse to go to bars. Eleanor's
tongue does the same thing when she concentrates
on a pool shot. 

My girl.

Hide and seek in Tracy Arm, AK.

My girls drinking apple juice with glacier
ice, Tracy Arm, AK.

A seal on ice in Tracy Arm, AK.

A small, sculpted berg in Tracy Arm, AK.

The water in the rapids leading into Ford's Terror in Endicott Arm, AK.

My future marine biologists.

Pilings left from an abandoned cannery in
Taku Harbor, AK.

The marina at Auke Bay, AK, just above Juneau.

Windy took this, in Taku Harbor--my favorite picture from the trip so far.