Only thirteen days until the beginning of Winter! Snow and slush and days with little daylight give way to snain and rain and minute by minute the days of more. More daylight that is! November delivered more snow than expected but has quickly passed. and much has already disappeared with the rain. What will the rest of December, January and February bring we cannot tell. Whatever it brings…it will also bring more light…and eventually the Spring!

As daylight slips away… more and more each passing day.. things begin to change! It is a blizzard of leaves now where before it was cottonwood and fireweed seeds. The geese and sandhill cranes have since passed and the first dusting of snow on mountain peaks glisten in the fading sun. More and more sea lions are beginning to gather off cannery point and the southwest winds pound just a little harder on the front beach at Icy Strait Point! The tables and chairs, benches and umbrellas have all disappeared and equipment is stored or stands silent. Like the trees and shrubs the energy just seems to have gone underground and disappeared! But it is all still there…waiting….and waiting…for the winter snows…the promise of spring and the start of another season at Icy Strait Point 2012!

It won’t be long now before we shall see the apperance of the Killer Whale superpods! As the salmon runs reach their peak the salmon hunting pods of killer whales will soon follow! Sweeping the bays, inlets and even Icy Strait itself they will be rounding up the stranglers. It’s a spectacle not soon forgotten and they can number 50 to 60 and more in the Superpod! keep on the look out!

Have you noticed the numerous purse seiners rafted together at the outside harbor in Hoonah? Purse seiners that have not been seen in Icy Straits for years are back for their share of the silver horde of salmon coursing through our waters. It isn’t only salmon they are harvesting, as they come and go, but also our memories of many such exciting times and days of old!

Yesterday as our Wine and Whales tour was unloading at the ISP float our guests were treated to one last close up and personal whale experience as a humpback surfaced thirty feet from the float! To top it off the whale then surfaced right outside our service dock and bid our guests farewell as it dove deep with a full show of its tail! Only here at Icy Strait Point! Just awesome as a roar of approval burst from our appreciative visitors!

The salmon people are returning and the rivers and streams need the rain! Our berries are in blossom and they also need the rain. We live in a rain forest so sometimes…it is going to rain!

Read about Stuart Campbell and Eleanor Davenport below:

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/022311/loc_789638440.shtml