June 1st - Glacier Bay to Pelican

As we look out at Cape Spencer in the Gulf of Alaska, a Humpback surfaces very close to our boat.   We sailed in the Gulf of Alaska until we reached Lisianski Inlet turned to port and sailed 26 miles to "Pelican". 

We departed Bartlett Cove and when we reached Point Gustavus we made our obligatory call to Park Headquarters informing them that we were exiting Glacier Bay. We continued down Icy Strait hesitating at every opportunity to watch the Humpbacks feeding. We entered South Inian Pass and stopped at Elfin Cove for a quick visit. The boardwalk village was in the process of preparing for summer visitors. We then entered Cross Sound which is open to the Gulf of Alaska. We passed the Boussole Arch. This is a natural arch created by the pounding winter seas of the gulf.

To our starboard we could see the Brady Glacier which is actually a huge icefield. It is 24 miles long and extends 46 miles northwest from Hoonah. It is part of Glacier Bay National Park.

High snow capped mountains and pristine wilderness line both sides of the narrow fijord. Pelican was a vision of an early entrepeneur Kalle Raatikainen looking for a location to build a fish cold storage and cannery in the 1930's. Previously, fisherman had to brave the long passage to Sitka to process their catch. Pelican, named after his boat, is stratigically located near a glacier fed river. A small hydro-electric plant was built and Pelican was in business. 

Pelican is only accessable by floatplane, Alaskian State Ferry every 2 weeks or private boat.

 It is a boardwork community and vehicles are limited to less than the width of the walkway so golf carts and ATV work well. Vintage homes line the boardwalk.

At the heart of the community is the infamous "Rosie's Bar".

The walls are lined with dollar bills and signatures of visitors. See if you can find "Lou and Mary Aubert, Seventh Heaven" in the maze. I personally crawled up onto the bar to place it on the ceiling at the encouragement of Rosie herself to immortalize our visit!

We enjoyed hearing stories of Rosie's fascinating life in Alaska. She is 75 years old and has sold the bar 3 times always having it returned to her because of lack of payment. She and her "boyfriend" as she calls him, run it now.
She is of Tlingit descent and her first marriage was arranged by her mother within her tribe. Eleven children and four husbands later she sold her tugboat which she used as her home as well as fishing and bought the bar 35 years ago. Rosie laughed when she told us that she was such a good fisherwoman that her rivals called her "Greedy Squaw". THIS IS THE REAL ALASKA!

This is the heart of Pelican's business district. The general store is well stocked and Pelican Seafoods is the major employer of the town of 118 residents. We met a wonderful couple Mark and Karen in Rosie's Bar. He is the chief engineer at Pelican Seafoods. They invited us to their home which is above the General Store and Post Office for a lovely dinner.
"Thank you Mark and Karen!"

A somber reminder of hope for the future of these unique Alaskian communites on the far reaches of this incredible state.