August 7-14
Hi All,
I am sitting here in Kukak Bay on Friday, August 10 in Katmai NP starting to write this blog…..I finished it on Tuesday night, Aug 14. It has been somewhat difficult to get back into the cruising mode. We have been cruising nonstop since last January….7+ months….over 900 engine hours, 6600nm…..it takes a lot of work/energy to cruise full time but you get into a routine and it all gets done…..then we had the 10 day interruption plus all the emotions and well…..we looked at each other and said…can you restart the cruising engine for another 2 months….we weren’t too sure we could….we said, well…lets give it a go and if we can’t get our mojo back we will just make tracks for Sitka…yep, I think we were both surprised how spent/knackered we really are….whoa!!!
We had great weather since returning to Kodiak last Sunday the 5th…..warm, sunny, blue skies….is this California….wow!!! But today….the 10th….so sun for 4 days…..Alaska returned to the Alaska we know and love….it is gray, low clouds, misty, low visibility, raining, and a bit chilly….back out came the rain gear!!!!
Geographic Harbor in Katmai NP on the Alaskan Peninsula: We could not have had a more therapeutic spot to heal our emotions and rest up….WOW,WOW….another drop dead gorgeous Bay….surrounded by mountains….everything green….then at the head of the bay a beautiful salmon stream just made for bears!!! And the salmon were there….mainly chum but some pinks….maybe not in quantities of years past but enough we could see 10-20 in various pools along the stream!!!
We did leave Kodiak early on Tuesday August 7….around 7am in order to time Whale Passage….we got there around 10am and still had a 2 kt favorable current!! And what did we see as we approached WHALE passage….well, a Fin whale…..4-5 blows then a dive only to resurface 4-5 minutes later…got to see this several times…perfect!!! But, as we exited Whale Passage and entered Kupreanof Strait and then Shelikof Strait the winds strengthen to 15-20G25kts and the seas to 3-5’….about 40-80 points off Port bow….somewhat head seas and somewhat beamy….we had a lot of motion….spray everywhere over clean Mystic….I even had to take some ginger to settle the stomach…..we had this for about 3-4 hours then it all started to calm and and once we entered Geographic Harbor it was all calm. It was 84nm and took us about 11 hours…..we were pretty tired…..didn’t even put out the crab trap until the next morning!! We spent 2D3N in GEO and it blew 20-25G30kts for the first 36 hours but we were very protected and all was good….albeit we anchored in 100’….yikes, that is deep!!!
Bears, Bears and more Bears: I’m not sure what it is but we have become obsessed by these guys…..we can’t seem to get enough viewings of these huge Grizzlies. GEO was different than Kitoi….there man had dammed the stream and the salmon just stacked up making it very easy for the bears to wade out and snatch a salmon. In GEO the bears had to hunt….so, it seemed more natural to us…..and the hunting techniques differed by the girth of the bear…yep, the young, lean ones would run and jump all over the place….darting to and fro as the quick salmon darted out of the way….the older, wiser and fatter ones just acted nonchalant all the time looking, run/jump a few times then leap/pounce….some would even chase the salmon onto a shallow spot and trap the salmon….I seemed to like these guys the most….very clever!!! Many would stand up and look….and sometimes the bears would just pass by a pool of quiet salmon….we decided they needed polarized lenses to better see the dark/silvery salmon!!!:)))
Bear Count….look at the stats below….139 bear sightings……we have now seen more bears than whales…..not as many as the over 400 kangaroos we saw in Australia but still, that’s a lot of bear sightings!!!
There were 2 very nice, friendly park rangers who came for a visit and gave us some information. The mountains were covered by what we thought was dirty snow…..very curious…..well, it turned out that was not dirty snow but ash from the 1912 Mt Navarupta-Katmai volcano eruption in 1912….really…like over 100 years ago….in some places over 700′ deep in ash. Turns out this eruption was 10 times stronger than Mt St Helens in 1980….in fact it is the 3rd largest volcano eruption in history….behind Greece’s Santorini in 1500 BC and Indonesia’s Mt Tambora in 1815….wow, wow, wow…..and it was so remote no human died!!! Several of the days the sky was cloudless and we could see the top of Mt Katmai….20nm away as the crow flies….about 6,000′ high….it looked like half its top had blown off and it was all covered in snow!!!
The 1st day there were a few people….Geographic Harbor is probably one of the most well known locations along the Alaskan Peninsula….one float plane with 3 people and one tour group with maybe 5 people…..there is a certain island in the small delta the Park Rangers want people to gather so as not to disturb the bears as well the bears get used to humans only being in that spot. The 2nd day….ODG….there were 4 tour groups….maybe 30+ people….some played nice, others didn’t….and guess what, very few bears showed up. We stayed on the boat and had great views with our strong, stabilized binocs but decided to go in around high tide as some of the groups were leaving…..also there was a 13+’ tide so we straddled high tide in order to manage the dinghy….hmmm, rookie mistake…..we met several of the guides….one a Natural Habitat guide for 19 years….he explained the best viewing time is around mid-tide and at high tide the water is too deep for hunting and the bears move upstream to shallower water…..well, he was partially right….when we arrived there were 5 bears….a mama and 2 cubs…cute, cute, cute….but a big male scared them off and then left himself…we were left with one medium sized bear that hunted for another 20+ minutes but then he too left…..and no more bears for the next 2 hours…ugh.
Kukak Bay: We really did not want to leave GEO but a storm is coming and we either stay for 3-4 more days or keep moving…..yep, looks like the weather is changing as a big, big LO is coming…like down to 977mb!!! Kathy had found Kukak Bay….not much written about it but the Nat Hab guide said it was excellent and they had just been there….but no bears….what….yes, a very strange summer with beautiful weather but not many salmon or bear sightings….but in Kukak we might see some wolves….ok, we are in. We left on Friday Aug 10 for the 36nm passage….all in trawler like conditions but very cloudy, some low and misty…..no views of the mountains….whaaaaaaaa!!! As we arrived at the entrance to this 7 nm deep bay we were greeted by 4-5 otters, one was on its back with a baby….cute, cute, cute….then another was on his back eating the legs off an Opelia crab…..and it was still wiggling….wow, had never seen that before!!! We anchored at the back of the bay in hopefully protected conditions for the big blow in 90’…yep, deep again. And that afternoon we saw many otters, harbor seals, one bear, many different birds…..as Kathy described it……And just now I noticed an otter swimming by right off our bow, munching on some shellfish. This bay is full of wildlife and we’re the only ones here. A little like living in the middle of a Nat Geo channel! Very, very, nice! 🙂
The water in Kukak is glacier waters…..the 1st day we could see the glacier….maybe part of Hallo or Serpent Tongue Glaciers…..small and up on the mountain top but had that deep blue color with many deep fissures…..the water is silted and has that milky, greenish-blue color…..won’t be using the watermaker in this Bay for sure!!! At the head of the bay where most of the streams empty the bay has filled in….huge mud flats at low tide….maybe 1/2-1 mile deep….whoa….but it does prevent getting close to the bears hunting in the stream…..but the bears and wolf do come out on the mud flats and hunt…..pretty cool to watch!!!
Wolf: For several days we saw in the distance a reddish critter…at first we thought it was a fox….but it was hunting like a bear for salmon…..eventually caught one….the next day it was there again but this time too early on the tide so it just laid down for several hours and eventually got up to hunt…..the 3rd day it was much closer to us and we could tell it was a wolf….wow….reddish/grey…..and it caught another salmon and then trotted off somewhere, fish in mouth!!!
Moose: Saw our first Alaskan moose….female….on the skinny side or a juvenile, walking the beach….no worries at all!!!
Mystery: Well…..as best Kathy could identify with her books….a Mountain Beaver…..strolling on the beach….it was a day when not many bears or the wolf came out to the mud flats…..we think the waters were too muddy to hunt for salmon as it was the day after the big rain and it was very muddy!!
Bears: 17 bear sightings over the 5 days…..not as many as other places and most were from a distance. One however gave us a show for about 3 hours……started on the beaches behind us where the moose was…..walking along the beach….stopped for an hour or so eating clams and grubs from under rocks….just turned huge boulders over with his strong paws….found a salmon in one of the mud pools, then marched along the beach in front of us onto the mud flats….big huge male…..impressive!!!!
Weather….Saturday was ok….drizzly but some breaking clouds…..we did get in the dinghy to go explore only for it to start raining 10 min later….ugh!!! It rained from Saturday at noon to Sunday evening……and Sunday morning the winds started blowing 20-30G38kts….ok, book reading time!!!! Kathy got her snow day but she did make eggs Benedict with crab complete with several Bloody Mary’s…it was a good day!!!! Monday we woke up to bright sunshine….wow…..beautiful….we can see the glaciers high up on the mountain tops feeding this bay!!! But, the winds are still blowing 10-20G30kts here in the Bay and per the gribs, 30+kts out in Shelikof Strait with 13-14′ waves…..nope not for us:))) Tuesday it still was blowing but we had periods of sunshine….just DDG!!!!
Air temp is in the hi 50’s/lo 60’s….not too bad; water temp 54*F….Kabola heater just comes on in the am!!!
Crabs: back to striking out….whaaaaaaaa…..good thing we still have several bags of crab left….GEO had none as the park ranger said and Kukak continued the “nada” streak….maybe too much glacier silt but then there are many otters, seals and birds so why not crab??? AND…..to add INSULT….I lost the crab trap….yep, the new one bought in Dutch Harbor….evidently the last spot I tried it was more like quick sand mud….I could not lift the pot by hand, it was stuck hard…..so, I tied the line to the dinghy and in the process of pulling the trap out of the mud, the plastic ring that the line is attached to at the trap broke….whaaaaaaaa…..saved the line but lost the trap…..now that is a low point:((((( Of course, the trap might have been full of crab…..hmmmmmm!! Good news we are going to Homer so we can resupply…the bad news, the price of a pound of crab just shot up:((((
Whale count on passage: 1 total: 1 Fin
Total Whale Count since Japan: 86; 35 Humpbacks, 33 Orcas; 3 Sperms, 2 Blue, 10 Fin, 3 Unknown
Total Bear Count: 139; 82 Alaska Brown; 57 Kodiak Brown
Bear Count: 17 Kukak Bay, 43 Geographic Harbor, 44 Kitoi, 12 Alpine Cove, 1 Three Saints, 22 Volcano Bay
Crab Count: ZERO in GEO and in Kukak…..arghhhhh!!!!
Total Dungeness Crab Count: 35…..K has informed me we are getting low on crab meat…pressure is on….ODG!!!!
The Plan: We are leaving Kukak Bay on Wednesday August 15…..finally after 5 nights!!!! We will do 100nm to Port Chatham on the Kenai Peninsula…..very long day….12-13 hours but hopefully in trawler like conditions and everything will be from behind!!! Daylight is still from 6am-10pm!!! We will just overnight in Port Chatham and then on Thursday, Aug 16 go 45nm to Homer!! We have a float plane/bear tour scheduled on Friday the 17th. We will explore Homer on Sat-Sun, 18/19 and then hopefully leave on Monday the 20th for the fiords on the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound. Then again, another LO is coming this w/e so we might get stuck in Homer for a few more days…ugh!!!!
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
GO MYSTIC GO!!!!
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