Goodbye sun

We knew it was too good to be true when we were welcomed to Southeast Alaska with warm, sunny days. Now she’s showing her true colors. Cloudy, rainy and cool. Back to wool clothing for me.

I spent the day watching and photographing pigeon guillemots, a harlequin duck and a flock of black turnstones with my real camera. Since my only internet connection is via my iPhone, they will have to wait until I get home. We watched a whale play with a boat for about a half hour yesterday. I had binoculars but no camera. I hope to get a few good shots while we are here.

Lantern view

Skies

Five Fingers

Eagle poo is not majestic

I should know. I cleaned the outside of the lantern today. Parts of it were covered by calcium rich droppings and there were little bombs of matted grass and skeletons, similar to owl pellets.

Traffic

Boats to the east of us travel south through the Wrangell Narrows, which can only accommodate “smaller” boats like the ferries and fishing boats. Cruise ships enter Frederick Sound (our summer home) from the west from the Gulf of Alaska. Cruise ships to the left, ferries to the right, here I am stuck in the middle…

I spent a half hour tonight watching a whale slowly cruise by, taking snorkel breaths, diving and flapping a flipper. A sea lion was hanging out on the other side and the eagles were fishing. Somebody pinch me!

The keeper’s quarters are tidy and bleach has obliterated my sense of smell. The countertop convection oven has produced an apple pie, pizza, kale chips, bread and brownies with a little help from me.

It’s still light out when I crawl into my sleeping bag anywhere between 9 and 10 pm. Ambient light makes it easy to read five pages before crashing.

Five Finger helipad

My world at Five Finger Lighthouse as seen from the helipad – the place to be to see whales, porpoises, visitors and to get cell phone reception.

I took this photo while on hold with ATT for an hour trying to straighten out the internet. Never happened so I write this from the lighthouse tower!

Lighthouse impressions

Lovely! We’re busy cleaning and mowing but are also enjoying the gorgeous sights. We share the island with a pair of eagles while whales and sea lions swim right offshore.

Other digits

Anenonme

The tip of the iceberg

We took a three hour tour to the lighthouse and saw eagles, whales, sea lions and icebergs. We went up to this one to attempt to get some ice. Boys will be boys.

Internet is sketchy at the moment and I write this from the lantern room and it looks like I can only add one photo. More to follow. Time for bed.