6/3 – 6/8
Hi All,
A brief update as I’m having all sorts of laptop issues and have lost the blog I was going to send today. I normally keep a running log so as not to forget items, but this one will be what I can remember the past 5 days.
We left Long Bay in Tenakee Inlet for Kelp Bay ~8:45am, got a rather late start as the birthday girl slept in:))) Long passage, 63nm, got in ~4:30pm and had anchor down, passage beers open, crab pots set all by 5:15pm!!!! We love the Middle Arm of Kelp Bay….gorgeous scenery, 3’k mountain facing us with lots of waterfalls….makes you want to break out in song….”the hills are alive”…yeppa!!! But the winds picked up the next day…we had 15-20G25kts in the anchorage…..2-3′ windchop….We anchor on a narrow shoal next to the beach as the mudflat is too steep and deep to anhcor by so not a lot of wiggle room….yikes!!!
Weather: We just had 12 straight days of gorgeous blue sky, minimum clouds, but got a bit hot the last few days. We now have had >20 days of sunshine since we left Sitka on April 12th. Compare that to 2006 when Kathy counted 6 days of sunshine…whoa!!! Well…now the weather is changing….a series of LO’s coming….lots of wind, rain, clouds…you know, typical Alaska!! I did go get the crab pots later that day….nada, just small ones…whaaaaaaa!!!
6/5: Change of plans….got the weather gribs this am first thing….NOAA is issuing advisories for high winds….ugh…the winds are just too big to keep going south in Chatham Strait so NO FISHING for John-boy at the Kasnyku Hatchery, ~10nm south, and anchoring in Ell Cove, one of Kathy’s favorite…arghhhhhh!!! So, we raised the dinghy and were out by 7:15am for Rodman Bay in Peril Strait. As we rounded the corner into the large Kelp Bay, John-boy pretty disappointed, 2 whale surface about 400 yards in front of us….oh, hi boys, thanks for trying to cheer me up…they both gave a blow, a hip wiggle and then big tail dives and were off to never be seen again…..hmmm, and I thought they were going to be the 7:30am show…drats!!
So we get to Chatham Strait after 7nm and it is flat calm….I’m tempted to go fishing but the Admiral says firmly she is not getting caught out in high winds…so we turn north and the Admiral was right…about 15 minutes later…5, then 10, then 15kts of wind and by the time we turn into Peril Strait an hour or so later, we have 20kts on the nose…2-3′ wind chop but it will soon be 4’+…..we patted ourselves on the back for seeking calmer waters just in time:))))
Rodman, 6/5-6: Basically, rained, some wind whips around from Chatham, into Peril, into Rodman…does a 180* turn in about 10 miles as the mountains funnel the wind….so we had 20kt winds, 2′ wind chop most of the time. Crabbing: 6 big ones, that’s more like it but maybe half what we normally get!!
Deep Bay, 6/7-8….another favorite and scenic anchorage known locally for it’s crabbing….but it’s obviously been crabbed out…only 2 keepers and lots of small ones but some females with eggs….good!!
We did though, see lots of bears in both rodman and Deep Bays.
The Plan: Going fishing in Salisbury Sound….hopefully, fingers crossed….more high winds over the next few days….SE 20-25G35kts…..but we hope to be able to fish the protected south shore!!!
Now back to my laptop issues….ugh!!!!
Critter Stats:
Whales: 31 Total (28 Humpback, 2 Minke, 1 Stejneger’s)
– 2 coming out of Kelp Bay
Bears: 78: (64 Brown, 14 Blacks)
– 64 Brown; 2 Brown Snug Cove; 3 Coots Cove in Funter Bay; 1 in Salt Lake Bay, 2 in Bells Island/port Frederick; 3 Russell Is; 4 Browns as entered Dundas; 1 in Upper Middle Arm Dundas; 2 Browns N. Chatham before Freshwater; 1 Brown along Tenakee inlet, sitting in front of a remote house; 13 in Crab Bay, 4 along Tenakee inlet, 6 Upper inlet anchorage; 1 on the way out of Upper Inlet, 6 in Long Bay; 7 Rodman; 8 Deep Bay
– 14 Blacks: 2 on north side Geikie Inlet as entered and 3 at Shag Cove, 1 as entered Dundas, 8 at Dundas anchorage
Dungeness Crab: 28; 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; 0 Swanson Harbor; 1 Pavlof; 0 Crab Bay; 9 in Upper Inlet Tenakee; 0 Long Bay, 6 Rodman, 2 Deep Bay
Prawns: 143 Spotted: 80 Red Bluff, 31 Pybus Bay; 19 Gambier Bay; 5 in Port Frederick; 0 Pavlof; 13 Upper Tenakee Inlet, near Long Bay
Otters: 325; 75 in Rocky Pass, 75 outside Pybus Bay; 20 coming into Bartlett Cove; 5 South Sandy cove; 5 Russell; 75+ Geikie Inlet; 50+ as left Glacier Bay; 25+ in Dundas Bay; 10+ Icy Strait; 5+ Swanson Harbor
Mountain Goats: 20+
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
Position: 57 19’09.30 N, 135 47’17.92 W
Course: Stopped.
Position: 22-06-09 17:03:25 -0800
http://maps.google.com/maps?&ll=57.31925,-135.7883&q=57.31925,-135.7883&z=16
