We made good time going up Whale Cove and were soon rounding Dual Head. There was another group of kayakers finishing their breakfast at one beach. As we neared Icy Bay, we pulled onto a small gravel beach for our lunch. Humpback whales spouted in the distance.
As we entered Icy Bay, we began to see small bergy bits, and as we passed the "Cliff" triangulation point shown on our maps, we entered a region thick with small bergs coming out of Nassau Fjord. We were a little nervous navigating through these...like going through a rock garden on a river. Although most of the bergs were small, we remembered that 90% of the volume would be below the surface and that if one tipped over next to a kayak it could get real exciting. We were happy when the bergy bits thinned out as we approached our camp site.
We found the beach that Diane had marked before the trip for our camp site. It was littered with chunks of ice, some the size of an SUV. But we found a moderately clear area where we were able to land, and carried our gear a couple of hundred feet down the beach to good camp sites. There were lots of lupine, dwarf fireweed and columbine blooming in the area. We set up camp, and a cooking tarp, as there were some light showers during the afternoon.
As this was Susie's birthday, Roger prepared a cake in the Bakepacker, which we all gladly shared. There were quite a few sea otters swimming around in the bay. To cap our evening, an Orca put on a nice display as it swam down the Bay, leaping out of the water right in front of our camp.
From our camp we could see part of Chenega Glacier, about 4 or 5 miles across icy Bay and up Nassau Fjord, and Tiger Glacier, up Icy Bay. There was a fairly impressive ice stream coming out of Nassau Fjord. We could see seals in the distance on some of the ice.
We decided to keep our campsite and just paddle to Tiger Glacier for the day (instead of camping near it). It was pretty much a straight shot up Icy Bay, maybe 4 miles or so. We stopped for lunch at a beach about 1 mile from the glacier (this is where we would have camped). There were breaks in the clouds and we warmed ourselves in the sun. Tim tried fishing, but no luck. We wanted to walk the beach to get closer to the glacier, but the roaring stream was just deep enough to top our boots. Finally, we decided to paddle the kayaks closer to get some views. There were quite a few bergy bits, but none too large. Whenever the glacier calved, there was a fairly heavy swell, lifting us 2 or 3 feet. We held off about half a mile from the glacier, awestruck by the site.
Dave seemed fearless paddling through the ice, and went a little closer than the rest of us. We could see harbor seals on the ice near the glacier. Sue began to get a little nervous about all the bergy bits and the periodic swell caused by the calving, so we backed off. Dave was mesermized by the glacier, and I think he would have been happy to stay and photograph all afternoon. Eventually, we all began the paddle back to camp.
The next day we moved camp into Nassau Fjord. It was showering when we woke up, and the paddle was short, so we weren't in a big hurry to get up. After breakfast, it started raining again while we packed, and we finished in a hurry. While getting under way, we watched as a black bear calmly swam across the bay, climbed out down the beach from us, shook off and walked into the bush, trying hard to ignore us. Once under way, a small whale (perhaps a young Orca) swam 20 or 30 yards from our kayaks. We investigated a bay near the mouth of the Fjord, where Diane thought she remembered seeing a rookery. We didn't find it this time. We did see another kayak group, who we had noticed camped across Icy Bay from us the previous day. We thought we might have to race them for a campsite, but they were just out for the day.
We arrived at our camp in Nassau Fjord before one. The afternoon was nice, with sun breaking through occasionally. We did set up Roger's net tarp, as we anticipated some showers (plus the omnipresent gnats). It was a little snug for seven, but certainly a welcome respite from the bugs. We watched the glacier calve while we ate dinner.
I awoke a little after midnight, just after high tide, to the sound of strong waves caused by the calving glacier. I hoped they weren't high enough to hit the kayaks or Roger's tarp system, but was reasonably sure that both were well above the high tide line.
This morning we had gentle rain; since it wasn't a moving day, we had a leisurely breakfast, taking advantage of Roger's expanded tarp. When it stopped raining, we paddled across the Fjord closer to Chenega glacier. It took maybe 40 minutes. As we got close to the glacier, it was quite windy, which made us all a little nervous. At least there wasn't much floating ice today. Keeping the boats lined up for photography was a challenge, and communicating in the wind was also a problem. When we had enough, we paddled over to the beach near the river draining into the upper end of Nassau Fjord. There were lots of spawning salmon, and LOTS of bear sign.
On the way back to camp, we paddled around a number of house sized ice bergs that had floated into the bay during the day. That evening, we dined under the tarp, and it really was nice to eat without bug nets on our heads. I think everyone was feeling pretty happy about how well the trip had gone so far, and a little bittersweet that tomorrow would be our final day.
It rained on and off during the night, but the clouds had lifted by morning to give us better views of the glacier from camp. This was the first time that we really had a lot of wet gear to pack up.The tide was out, so we had to carry all the gear and boats way down the beach to the water's edge. There was much more floating ice today than yesterday. As we paddled out of the Fjord, we went through a stream of ice, accompanied by a chilly wind off the glacier. It misted on us briefly, but was mostly pleasant.
After we left the Fjord, we saw two black bears on a low beach near Gaamaak Cove. We pulled into the cove and took a break at a really interesting inlet--lots of fucus and star fish in the tidal region, and mossy deep forests hanging from the cliffs.
We found the kittiwake colony in Gaamaak Cove--fascinating sights, sounds, and ummm, oders. Near the cliffs it was windy and there was lots of spray. At one point I asked Sue to stop paddling, as everytime her blade came out of the water, the wind blew spray from it onto me and my camera. From there, we paddled into another small inlet with a large stream emptying into it. We had lunch here. This would have been our final camp, according to our original schedule, but the campsites were limited, as the area was covered with tall grass. Also, we would have been sharing it with the local bear, which we saw near the river. In deference to the bear, we decided not to go up the stream to the waterfalls above.
The designated pick up beach was just a few hundred yards around the next point. We were encourgaged that this was the right place, since we could see tracks of the group we had seen entering Nassau Fjord--we knew that they planned to be picked up at the same place earlier in the day. Dave discovered blueberries near by. We took some pictures, and organized our gear. The taxi arrived on schedule. We loaded quickly and were off for Whittier. On the way, the captain stopped so that we could watch Humpbacks spouting nearby. What a great trip!