June 25-27
Hi All,
We did arrive Mailboat Cove on Unalaska on Monday, June 25 around 3pm. It was 53nm in very calm conditions. We did get a short period of 15-20kt head wind as we rounded Unmak and Cape Idak….just enough to spray the bow and PH windows again with salt….all the rains we had the last day in Hot Springs had washed all the salt away and Mystic was looking/feeling much better…oh, well!!!
Within an hour or so Art, the local sheep rancher here, called us on the VHF and invited us in for coffee the next morning….great…..Spruce arrived about an hour later and Kathy invited them over for her delicious pot roast dinner!!! But, then the fun started…..I setup the halibut rig with fresh bait while Mark and I lowered the dinghy intending to catch a fish for the crab trap….well, we just barely got the dinghy down when the wonderful sound of a spooling fish reel…..ziiiiinnnnnnnng…..I ran to the pole, gradually increased the drag and then game on…..the pole was bent in half…..felt like a large halibut, fighting hard…..took about 5-10 minutes to wear it out and slowly I raised her up….yep, a big Halibut….Mark had the pleasure of using our net and was just barely able to lift it onto the swim transom….huge….and very tired but still dangerous….some rum in the gills, and a few knocks/cuts on the head and it took about 10 minutes to let go!!!! 40-lbs and about 40 inches long…whoa….that’s the biggest Halibut I’ve ever caught!!! Then I had the pleasure for the next hour or so, getting 4 huge filets off it….we kept 1, gave 1 to Spruce and 2 we gave to Art the next day.
We had a wonderful pot roast dinner with Spruce….the pot roast was bought at the Costco in Japan and was delicious…. chuck roast, carrots, potatoes, celery, onions and cole slaw with corn bread muffins….all smothered in gravy….and of course, some nice New Zealand wine complimented the meal!!!!
The next morning I was up early to check the crab pot….NOTHING AGAIN….this is getting tiresome….we did have one very large starfish again…..not a good sign for crab…..so, I reset about a mile away further down the bay…..but, I checked later that evening and just another larger starfish….arghhhhh….so I reset the pot all the way at the head of the Bay…..maybe 2-3 miles away!!!! The final check on the crab pot last night was again ZERO…..arghhhhh…the bait was slightly chewed on so we suspect very small crabs…..whaaaaaaaa!!!
Art Christenson: A sheep sheerer by trade…..has been all over the world plying his trade. He came to this ranch in 1973 and has been here on/off ever since. The ranch was started in 1919 and at one point had up to 5000 sheep. It is owned by the Aleut Corporation, but again as in Sweeper Cove on Adak, are doing nothing to maintain the complex and are just letting everything fall to ruins. It seems the military had a “secret” base in Mutton Cove, about 1 mile away and built some of the present day buildings which are now mostly in ruins. Art, single, is 67 years old and admits he does very little maintenance now, just enough to keep the house and living quarters livable. He spends 6 months here….May – Dec then goes to California/Nevada for work and to be with his family. He has about 300 sheep to maintain/sheer but doesn’t do much with the wool. He will butcher/sell lamb/mutton and gets more money for that than the wool!! What a life he leads….he does have a VHF call twice daily with a rancher 12 miles away on Unmak as well as a Sat phone to call Dutch and others as needed!! There is a local small trawler/cruise boat with 10-12 people viewing all the WWII ruins in the Aleutians that stops here every 2 weeks or so!!! So, he says, he gets plenty of human contact and doesn’t feel that isolated!!
Say….how about a 1.5 mile easy hike to help save a sheep…..we were rounding up some sheep yesterday and one sheep fell into a crevice and is so heavy with her wool she can’t get out….sure, no problem….hmmm, never trust a cowboy’s judgment of distance and difficulty. It turned out to be 6+ miles roundtrip, over tundra, hills, then a very steep, as in straight down, cliff to the shoreline and then another 1/2 mile over rocks to get to the sheep…whoa….the girls stayed on top of the cliff, Andy and Art took off and quickly left Mark and me behind. Both Mark and I had on our rain boots, very much not suited for cliffs and major rocks…in general we were very unprepared for this hike….no water, wrong shoes, no first aid stuff, no radios to communicate if separated et al…. so when we lost contact with Andy/Art we stopped. Mark stayed and I went back to Kathy/Sue to let them know what was going on. Kathy and I then decided to come back to the boat while Sue and Mark waited on Andy/Art hoping they returned the same way and not stranding them. In the end, Art/Andy did find the sheep, were able to haul it to some rocks, sheered off the wool, the sheep got up a little wobbly but eventually ran off to join the others…a job well done by Andy and Art…..and they did return the same way so Mark and Sue were picked up and all back to the shore by about 7pm…pretty sweaty/thirsty for sure!!! Needless to say we were all in bed early that night!!
Wednesday 6/27: We started the day at Art’s place….he made pancakes and mutton pancakes, Sue made an omelet, and Kathy made blueberry muffins…..yummers!! After that we all went to Mutton Cove by dinghy about 1 mile away. This was the site of an old Aleut and Russian village as well as the military base in WWII. We believe this was the supply base fo the construction of airfields on Unmak, about 12-20nm west. These were the “secret” air bases that hid American fighters that fought off 2 Japanese aircraft carriers when they did a surprise attack on Dutch Harbor which prevented Japan from advancing any further into Alaska!! I had a wonderful walk along the beach and was treated to 3 wild red foxes….one let me get to 200-300 yards away so a pretty good viewing!! After that, Art invited all of us over for a late lunch….mutton roast, homemade sourdough bread, Sue made potatoes and Kathy made coleslaw….yummers….then we sat around the table telling various stories….a good time was had by all.
What a marvelous 2 days we spent with Art….a very kind, friendly and gracious host with wonderful life experiences as a rancher in the Aleutians…..a big WOW for all of us!!!
The Plan…..YES….we are underway today, Thursday, June 28, for Dutch Harbor….about a 70nm run….looks to be trawler conditions again. Wow, we can hardly believe it….our goal was to be in DH at least by July 1 and we made it by 3 days!!! We will stay for about a week….we hear they do a great July 4th celebration!!! Mark leaves on July 1 so we will see a bit of Dutch before he leaves and then spend some time cleaning and doing maintenance before setting off for the Alaska peninsula, Kodiak, and Prince William sound over the next 2 months!!
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
GO MYSTIC GO!!!
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Great documentary on your travels and adventures John. We feel we are there with you in some strange Mystic way ha ha…at least until it comes time to enjoy the libations and delicious meals you have been describing. Then we awake to reality lol.
We have had another grandson, Graham Harland Forster of Charleston SC. born June 6th. We spent the first week of his life with him. He was 8lb 9oz at birth and two weeks later almost 12lbs. He eats like a Forster!.
Stay safe and keep up the writings. Love and blessings to all
Rich and Vana