Photo: A small cruise ship comes to anchor in Cleveland Passage at sunset.

We left Petersburg on a cold morning. In Frederick Sound it got colder and even colder still when we entered Thomas Bay. A cold wind blew off the glacier and right into our anchorage in Scenery Cove. To explore the outwash plain I wore long underwear, fleece pants and jacket and rain pants and jacket over the fleece. I still felt cold. I thought, this is Alaska, it’s colder here now that we’re north of Petersburg.

Expecting more cold weather the next morning, I once again donned long underwear, fleece and a jacket. But when we got back into Frederick Sound from Thomas Bay, I was surprised at how warm it was. The sun came out, the wind died to absolutely nothing, I removed a layer and we motored in what seemed to me balmy weather.

We motored all the way to Cleveland Passage, with a brief stop at Farragut Bay (too full of crab boats and crab pot buoys to anchor), and anchored off the old town of Fanshaw. That evening we ate dinner in the cockpit, sitting in the sun until after 9:00. At 11:00 I looked out Osprey’s windows to see a small cruise ship silhouetted in the sunset. Was this the same country we had been in the day before?