June 11 – 13
Hi All,
June 11: It was another sleep in day to 0630….yes, I know, but it’s been daylight for hours:))) Raised anchor at Sitkoh and out by 8am….18nm, got a quick cell signal so downloaded some emails, and made Saook Bay by 11amish…..another DDG brilliant green meadow surrounded by more 2-3’k snow capped mountains. Smaller meadow than Sitkoh called Paradise Flats, and the stream is most likely navigable for a mile or so in a kayak or small dinghy (we did not try). But where are the bears….no bears in the meadows, maybe way up the stream and more protected…..or, maybe over in Sitkoh, but that is on Chichagof Island and we are now on Baranof Island….the Peril Strait separates the two large islands….soooooo another mystery to ponder…bear wandering schedule:)))
June 12: woke up a little later….ah to be retired….but, WTH….a BFB is behind us maybe a mile back….Natural Geographic/Lindblat boat….they had 3 dinghies out and let out people to go hiking….the leader came over for a nice visit….said they will stay way back and keep the kayaks away from us…we told them we are leaving in an hour so no worries….she then told us bears rarely come to this meadow for some unknown reason and that they have never kayaked the stream as too many logs/debris….they are also affiliated with Natural Habitat, our Africa Safari group, so we had a great discussion about all that…they had been in Glacier Bay the day before with lots of bears!!!
Pulled 1 crab trap: nada….wow, never expected that…where have the crab gone:((((
We left ~9am for the 11nm run to Rodman Bay….the next fiord over. This was the Bay where in 6/19/2019 we were here with Mark & Roseanne right after the commercial crabbing season opened on 6/15 and witnessed ~1500 crab being taken in the 2 days we were there.
We put out one test crab pot and caught 3 whoppers that evening…much better….the crab are back!!!
Not much bear or bird activity which seems odd. We did see 2 Brown bears but not good showings and Kathy could not find them.
June 13: Woke to a brilliant sun….nice….and another 2, 7-8″ crab in the trap!!! We left around 8am for the 27nm run to Deep Bay, one of Kathy’s favorite. And as a way of greeting, a nice Brown bear near where we anchored to welcome us!!! And we finally saw a whale….outside Rodman, in Peril Strait on north shore….did a breach and fin flap….we went over to see closer and he was quite tame so we left after a bit…no show….darn!!!
All in for Rodman in 1 day: 1 crab trap: 5, 3 Browns
We arrived Deep Bay around noonish and set a crab trap for giggles as it would only have a 5+ hour soak as we are going to pick up all the toys (traps and dinghy) tonight so we can get an early start the next day. We got one crab trying to escape and was stuck….it might have been legal had we pushed hard on the shell but since he was valiantly trying to escape and Kathy did not want to mess with just one crab we let it go!!! Deep Bay is a well known local spot for crabs….throughout the day we saw several locals set about 15 traps…..all trying to get crab before commercial season opens on the 15th!!
June 14: Going fishing…..yea….and finally. We left Deep Bay around 7:30amish to time Sergius Narrows at 8am.
The Plan: We plan to fish in Salisbury Sound for 2 days then into Sitka and internet on the 16th!!
Critter Stats:
Whales: 45, (12 Orcas, 29 Humpback, 4 Sei)
– 5 in Kelp Bay leaving, 1 Sei and 4 Humpbacks tail/fin slapping
– 1 in Peril Strait as leaving Rodman on north bank
Bears: 130 (118 Brown, 12 Black)
– 3 Bears Saook (such a change from Sitkoh)
– 2 in Rodman
– 6 in Deep Bay; 1 in am
Wolves: 1 (big male Grey on the mud flat in Klu Bay)
Dungeness Crabs: 61 (5 in Manzanita, 0 Punchbowl, 8 Fitzgibbon, 11 in Yes Bay, limited 1st day, 2 in Klu, 3 in Marguerite, 0 Santa Anna; 0 Farragut, 8 West Gambier; 0 Snug, 6 Cannery Cove, 10 Kelp Bay(1 trap, limited 2nd day), 3 Hood Bay South Arm, 0 Sitkoh, 0 in Saook, 5 in Rodman, 0 Deep Bay)
Prawns: 237, (209 Spotted: 7 Punchbowl, 36 Fitzgibbon, 50 Shrimp Bay, 56 Marguerite, 48 Santa Anna; 12 Snug; 24 Kelp Bay), 4 Coon Stripes, small size (Fitzgibbon)
Marten: 1 (1 Punchbowl)
Stellar Sea Lions: ~30, (20 in Sucia Bay, 10 on buoys out of Wrangell)
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
Position: 57 19’12.38 N, 135 47’08.77 W
Course: Stopped.
Position: 21-06-15 07:33:39 -0800
http://maps.google.com/maps?&ll=57.32011,-135.7858&q=57.32011,-135.7858&z=16