The serene beauty of waves can have a real calming effect. Nature’s own symmetry and repetition in wave formations act as kind of visual “chant” for stress relief.

Clear weather in Juneau often means windy conditions from the north, and yesterday was no exception. But in my opinion it’s a small price to pay to have sunny skies. Here, high winds in Favorite Channel create white caps and waves running ashore at Eagle Beach break up as surf. Looming in the distance are the snow-covered peaks of the Chilkat Peninsula.

As we returned to Tee Harbor the other night, I was about to put my camera away when I noticed how our boat created beautiful ripples on the otherwise calm water. The ripples were circling on and on and spreading beyond the harbor and flowing on out to the sea. And there was no way of telling where the end was going to be.

The devastating fallout of the tsunami in Japan was barely felt in Southeast Alaska. Increased wave height was noticeable though, such as 1.5 feet at Port Alexander. The size of these waves breaking on the shores of North Douglas Island are not the result of the tsunami, but rather in response to windy conditions along Lynn Canal.

As these waves fade into ripples on a sandy shore, I wonder how when we create a ripple, they can become giant waves and who knows what distant shores they can reach and how many hearts and lives they can touch…

The wind has not abated this week, and gale warnings are in effect pretty much throughout most of Southeast Alaska. I took this shot yesterday morning near False Outer Point on Douglas Island, just as the wind started to intensify. The large island in the background is Spuhn Island.

The surf pounds the rocky northwest end of Shrine Island in Favorite Channel earlier this week. When the north wind blows down Lynn Canal and Favorite Channel, Shrine Island is a great place to watch powerful waves crash into its rock outcroppings.