Unbelievable Alaskan Summer Continues

[NorthernFocus]

We just returned from another trip on Prince William Sound. We were out for five days and had one day of rain showers. So I thought I'd do some free advertising for Alaska tourism

1) King's Bay; took this shot on our way to fill our fish cooler with glacier ice.



2) Why we needed the ice. We fished about five hours and caught three halibut and four yellow eye rockfish. (iPhone image)



3) The day we fished was the day it rained. The view from our fishing hole. (iPhone image)



4) Fishing is hard work so we took a mid-morning break. Life can be tough out there...(iPhone image)



5) Where we spent the last night of the trip.



6) The narrow entrance channel to our anchorage.



7) It was a beautiful place to walk the dog. That's my wife walking Grace while I'm fiddling with photography.



8) The wild iris were blooming. They are fairly prolific in this particular location.



9) And there was an interesting, fairly large pond full of lily pads.



10) Trying to get artsy with the pond. Unfortunately I forgot that earlier I had been shooting in auto ISO and the full rez image IQ isn't so great.

[John 2]

The only photographic emotion these evoke is -'envy'. Beautiful place, beautiful series - two lucky s......s (sailors what else?).

[Ziggy]

Wow looks special Dan, enjoyed viewing.

I can only imagine what it would be like to catch, clean, grill and then eat that fresh halibut .

[Mike Buckley]

Very appealing series and narrative!

Which of the two fish is a rock fish? The reason I ask is that neither fish looks remotely like the rock fish on the American east coast.

[Manfred M]

With the winters you get up there, I think you deserve to get this type of weather once in a while. Everything looks wonderful when the sun is shining!

Great pictures too!

[Shadowman]

Nice views.

[NorthernFocus]

Glad you guys enjoyed the photos.

Yes, Manfred, we feel like we deserve this sort of weather once in a while too.

Mike, the orange one is the rock fish. Specifically a yellow eye rock fish which we refer to as YERF. In California restaurants they serve them as red snapper. Not remotely close to east/gulf coast red snapper. The most similar east/gulf fish would be grouper. Sadly the one in this photo is likely over 100 years old. They are ancient creatures (and look it). We hate to catch them but they live in deep water and get the fish version of the bends when they come up and don't survive release. They are excellent eating but not when plated side by side with halibut.

When the weather is like this it is hard to imagine anywhere on Earth being any more beautiful. Snow capped mountains with rain forest slopes that drop right into cold, crystal clear water. Unfortunately there is a reason for the rain forest covered slopes

[Manfred M]

I'm always surprised when people don't understand why they call it a "rain forest". Duh!

[Mike Buckley]

This is the rockfish I am used to seeing and eating. It's my favorite fish.

[NorthernFocus]

Ah, that explains it, Mike. I used to commercial fish on the southeastern US coast and didn't recall rock fish. Down south we call them stripers. I do now recall having heard that farther north they are called rock fish. But all of my fishing was offshore. Also a lot of fish are now marketed that weren't back then. For example dolphin/dorado/mahi mahi we used to catch, cut up, and use as bait for snapper and grouper. Now they serve it in restaurants. Go figure.

[JBW]

I was a junior lighthouse keeper on Ivory Island, a deckhand on the Thomas Crosby V and lived in Kitamaat Village. You caught the coast with these shots

[IzzieK]

Oh Dan...what a wonderful life you live up there in Alaska...if only your winter is as short as what we have here inland...it will be nice to live there. Sausages and pancake for morning tea? I was just about to ask about Grace...did you take an image of her? The last image you shared with us was that one on top of the cooler box...

[FootLoose]

It must really suck, living in Alaska, Dan. Nice shots.

[NorthernFocus]

Glad you folks enjoyed the post. Yes, when it's as pictured here Alaska is grand. It's not so great along about mid-January. And if we have a bad summer it really stinks. Summer of 2010 the temperature never got above 70F(21C) all summer here in Anchorage I remember that year because it was our first summer after moving down from Fairbanks. My bride was ready to move to Florida.

[Wavelength]

WOW!!!what a great series of images!!!!

[Donald]

Indeed, a lovely set of images. The tourist authority should be grateful.

[tbob]

Fantastic shots Now I can hardly wait to retire to get some shots of the west coast. You will of course guarantee the weather will be this good at all times.

[wilgk]

A terrific series, looks like you had a great time.
Canada/Alaska is on my wish list, but best I get through this year with NYC first!
Always a pleasure to view your threads Dan.

[NorthernFocus]

...The tourist authority should be grateful.

You'd think they would express their appreciation with a tangible demonstration of gratitude

...Now I can hardly wait to retire to get some shots of the west coast. You will of course guarantee the weather will be this good at all times.

I can't guarantee it will be the same, but I CAN guarantee it will be good. Because we have a saying up here, "there's no bad weather, just bad gear (aka kit in the queen's English).

[Digital]

Dan, very nice images.


Bruce