Ketchikan thru Misty Fiord National Monument to Walker Cove – May 26 – May 28^th, 2013

     Just when we think it can't possibly get more beautiful, it does.  We decided to spend a few days in the Misty Fiords National Monument.  It was established in 1978 and encompasses 2.2 million acres.  It is accessible only by float plane or boat.  We spent our first night off of Carp Island which was about a 3 ½ hour cruise from Ketchikan.  From Carp Island we went North thru the Behm Canal to Punchbowl past an amazing site called the New Eddystone Rock.  It is a 230 foot rock right in the middle of the channel that looks like something out of the hobbit – it is a mystical looking tree covered rock.  The cruise to Punchbowl took us about 3 hours in beautiful weather again.

  Punchbowl is impossible to describe how beautiful it is – I am going to just post pictures so you can see for yourself.  It is amazing and we took the dinghy’s all the way to the end of the Cove.  It is surrounded by a 3000 foot granite faced mountain and is breathtaking.  We had dinner aboard the Nelsea with all 11 of us and decided that it is time to have movie night tomorrow so we can share and see everyone's pictures.  I have probably over 600 myself so it may be a very late night!

  We spent the night in Punchbowl and were treated to an amazing lightning and thunder display but woke up to sunshine and another incredible day.  We travelled up Behm Canal and took a detour up the Walker Cover as it is another spectacular fiord with a glacier carved valley at the head.  We spent about an hour going to the head of the Canal but it was another spectacular sight with waterfalls, snow covered mountains and canyons.  Some of the waterfalls plunge down the granite walls over 1 mile to the water – almost straight down!

     Now we are cruising to Fitzgibbon Cove where we are going to spend the night anchored in a cover that offers good shelter from the winds as the weather appears to be changing again.  We have had a spectacular sunshine cruise so far but you can watch the clouds rolling in and the water get rougher.  We have to remind ourselves that this is a rainforest and usually gets at least ½ inch of water a day so we have been extremely fortunate on the weather here also. I am going to post a picture that shows us entering Walker Bay and then leaving one hour later and it shows just how quickly the weather changes.