May 14 – 17
Hi All,
May 14: We did leave the Auke Bay dock ~7am…..after a good hour of John topping off fresh water, stowing things, engine room check et al….made it to the fuel dock….250 gals of diesel, $5.11…ouch….and 8 gals gas @$4.99….arghhhhhh!!!
We only saw 1 small Minke whale and 1 Humpback on the 25nm passage to Funter Bay…anchored in Coots Bay with many crab pots….anchor down, passage beers open, crab pots all set by 1:30pm!!!! By this time in 2019 we had already seen 25 whales, this year only 10 whale sightings…..even the whale tour guides in Auke Bay were saying the migratory whales have not shown up yet…..very late….as in they got the memo about how cold it is…really, don’t whales have a lot of blubber….hmmmmm:))))
In 2019 with Wayne and Sharon we limited out both days on Dungeness crab (12 total) in Crab Cove/Funter Bay….this year the evening pull yielded 2 undersize males and the morning pull yielded nada, ZERO….WTH….saw some locals pulling pots so went to talk with them….they had 13 pots and only got 2 keepers, which they promptly gave to us as their catch was too low to bother with…either you take them or we will throw them back. They told me the King Crab have come in the last few days and scared off the Dungeness…..come back in a month or so and the Dungeness will be back!!!
In Juneau we had gone to Jerry’s Fish smokehouse for some salmon and crab dip…best we have ever had….and some smoked salmon…yummers. They also give out free crab bait….fresh fish carcasses they freeze…can you give me a small bag….the guy comes out with a 20-lb frozen bag…got anything smaller ….nope….all fresh frozen salmon….wow!!!!
Great….so we had killer bait and just fed small King Crabs…..arghhhhhh!!!
May 15: Up early and out after checking crab pots and lifting dinghy. We made the 39nm passage to Bell Island at the end of Port Frederick, ~14nm past Hoonah. We first checked out Salt Lake Bay as it was gorgeous and we thought good protection from the forecasted ESE winds. But, it was too deep….125’+ and too narrow for adequate swing room, so we went to Bells Island. In 2019 we anchored in Eight Fathom but it was too exposed to the forecast E winds. Bell was a nice anchorage, surrounded by snow capped mountains. We saw one Brown bear the first day but it got spooked and ran back into the forest. We never did find out what spooked it unless it was Mystic???
Crabbing: Total was 1 Dungeness…..with fresh salmon carcasses, we thought we would kill it…nope….several traps had baby Kings in them so the Dungeness are hiding….ugh!
Prawning: Had to go ~3.5nm to the prawning grounds, 7nm round trip….cold, brrrrr….and only 5….ouch….and the traps were full of sea lice….all the fish was gone, just skeleton bones….arghhhhhh….and what a mess….took me 1/2+hour to clean it all up!!!!
May 17: Left around 8:30am after cleaning up the prawn trap sea lice mess and stowing everything…..made the 44nm passage to Bartlett Cove at the start of Glacier Bay….dark, low clouds, raining….10-15kts E wind behind us but had a 3 kt foul current in ICY Strait so the waters were pretty disturbed. Saw only 1 whale….not a Minke, but had a short blow, pretty small whale, showed little body, but did show a tail as it dove, so not a Minke…..hmmmm, out come the books….Kathy called it a Stejneger’s Beaked Whale….rare…and our first!!!!
We arrived ~2:30pm, tied to the dock and then had a 45 min orientation by the Rangers…..2 videos and a nice chat. Not much has changed since we were here in the fall of 2018 and spring of 2019. They only allow 3 hours on the dock so we anchored with some others…whoa….first time this season we have shared an anchorage. There are ~8-10 boats in the Park now, and up to 2 large cruise ships/day. Starting 6/1 you need a permit and the limit is 25 boats/day.
The Plan: We will stay in Glacier Park the next 3 nights as we are only cruising the West Arm. Then it will be Dundas Bay for a few nights on the West side outside Glacier Park!!!
Critter Stats:
Whales: 11 total (8 Humpback, 2 Minke, 1 Stejneger’s)
– 1 Minke near Point Retreat Lighthouse….northern tip of Admiralty Island
– 1 Humpback coming into Funter Bay
– 1 Steineger’s outside Hoonah
Bears: 8 Brown; 2 Brown Snug Cove; 3 Coots Cove in Funter Bay; 1 in Salt Lake Bay, 2 in Bells Island/port Frederick
Dungeness Crab: 10; Red Bluff 2, Cannery Cove 2, Upper basin Good Island Inlet 3; Snug Cove 1; Crab Cove/Funter 2 (given to us by locals:))), 1 in Eight Fathom Port Frederick
Prawns: 130 Spotted: 80 Red Bluff, 31 Pybus Bay; 19 Gambier Bay; 5 in Port Frederick
Otters: 170; 75 in Rocky Pass, 75 outside Pybus Bay; 20 coming into Bartlett Cove
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
Position: 58 27’33.58 N, 135 53’34.36 W
Course: Stopped.
Position: 22-05-18 07:15:55 -0800
http://maps.google.com/maps?&ll=58.45933,-135.8929&q=58.45933,-135.8929&z=16
