May 8 – 11
Hi All,
We did leave Ketchikan on Saturday May 8th but first to the fuel dock by 8am. We got 521 gals @ $2.68/gal and with tax it was $2.85/gal….not too bad a price!!! We arrived at our anchorage, Manzanita Bay, by 3:15pm, 47nm, and had anchor down, dinghy lowered, 2 crab pots set and passage beers opened by 4:15pm….LIG. This is supposed to be a “hot” crab area so we anticipated full pots. Hmmmm…..must work on my crabbing skills…one pot was empty but one had 4….2 male keepers and 2 small females….ok, not so bad with <2hr soak….not the killer pots we imagined but enough for dinner….ODG from pot to dinner in one hour…what could be better:)))
The next morning…..1 pot had 1 small female with eggs and 1 keeper male, and the other pot had 2 keeper males for a total of 3 keepers, but all the bait was gone so there must be a lot of small crabs that got inside the trap, ate all the bait and then left….arghhhhhh!! We had imagined coming away with 12 keepers….our limit is 3 per license and we have 2 licenses…so 6 from yesterday and 6 from this morning, but alas we came away with 5!!!! Alex on mv Wild Blue was at the same anchorage a day later and had the same results….lots of small crab….oh boy, hope someone has not crabbed out this area…ugh!!!
We are in Misty Fiords National Monument Wilderness, 2.2 million acres of unspoiled wilderness….also where it averages 0.5″/day of rain….thus called Misty:))) The area is DDG (drop dead gorgeous) unless shrouded in mist, low clouds, fog et al, but even that has its own beauty. There are deep cut fiords, glacier-fed streams, very mountainous with 2,000-4,000′ snow capped mountains, many rivers, and lots of waterfalls that careen off 3,000′ sheer cliffs, plummeting directly into the 48-50*F sea.
May 9: Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there. Kathy spent hers in DDG Punchbowl. This is quintessential Misty Fiords, 3,000′ mountains surround the bowl-like anchorage….one 3,000′ granite face on the East side is the iconic picture of Misty Fiords, but it is a deep anhcorage…we anchored in 95′, dropped back to 125’….whoa….had 350′ chain out (we carry 400′), maybe 200 yards from the stream coming down from Punchbowl Lake. With no wind and the stream current, we didn’t hardly budge!!! In 2006 we were here with Kathy’s parents and Kathy and I climbed the steep, muddy trail to the Lake…..pretty rugged trail but DDG views….we didn’t try it this year….15 years later with bad knees and backs…ugh!!!!
It rained off/on….we set one crab pot really thinking it was too rocky and the water too cold and yep, nada. We also set out 2 prawns pots and used my new pot puller….excellent, pulls the pot in about 5 mins….sweet as!!! But, in ~20 hours, one 6 hour soak and one 14 hour soak we only got 7 large spotted prawns…..made for a good shrimp cocktail for dinner:))) We really did not expect to catch many prawns…one person told us don’t even try and another said many years ago with a local they caught a pot full….hmmmmm, must be a secret hidey hole which we didn’t find:((((
And, we didn’t see many critters in either of the first two anchorages….lots of ducks doing the mating ritual, one seal, John saw one marten, but no bears and no Eagles( I guess no food or too early yet)….so with the critter no shows, the Admiral said lets move….she is on the critter search itinerary!!!
May 10: We left Punchbowl ~8am after collecting the 3 traps, went 32nm to Fitzgibbon Cove, another beautiful and remote anchorage, located in the NW comer of Behm Canal, arrived about 12:30pm and had both crab traps and 2 prawn posts set by 2:00pm!!! Surprisingly the winds picked up to ~15-20kts South which made it pretty cold and had some 2-3′ waves setting the prawn traps…joy, not!! Checked the crab traps about 6pm and only had 2 male keepers…..hmmmm….reset both pots a bit deeper and in new locations. We had fresh crab the last 2 nights for dinner so it was a popcorn and movie night as low clouds and a slight mist settled in!!
May 11: We decided to stay put as we liked it here and Wild Blue will hopefully join us later. A perfect morning….woke up when we woke up, coffee, emails, some texting, weather, check crab pots (2 keepers, many small ones, one trap bait was all gone), check prawn traps (8 in 1, 2 in the other…pathetic, one trap full of mud and krill, ugh), fished off back of boat and caught several small flounder, lunch, nap, talked with Alex when they came in, checked traps (2 keeper crabs, many small ones; 6 prawns…..ugh), cleaned up, Lebanese style food on Wild Blue (their guests were excellent Lebanese cooks)….wow, delicious!!! It turns out we have partied a lot on Wild Blue with previous owners, Bill and Deb on what was then called mv Renegade, a Selene 57. We spent some time with them in various spots in the Caribbean…such a small world!!!
AND, we saw Brown (Grizzlies) bears….3 showings….each lasted 15 – 30 min….Kathy was ecstatic….there is a medium size mud flat with lots of green grass and the young bears…..they were most likely small males, maybe one had just left the den and the others maybe 1-2 years older….all chomping on the grass or digging up eating roots and worms/grubs…..what magnificent critters!!!
The Plan: Continue around Behm Canal for the next week or so….LIG!!!!
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
Critter Stats:
Whales: 15, 12 Killer, 3 Humpback
– Saw one Humpback coming into Ketchikan and another one outside City Floats
Bears: 4 (3 Brown, 1 Black)
– 1 very large Black Bear in Farewell Harbor
– 3 Brown (Grizzlies) in Fitzgibbon, maybe small females or 3 year old’s males that have left the den, somewhat skinny
Dungeness Crabs: 13 (5 in Manzanita, 0 Punchbowl, 8 Fitzgibbon)
Prawns: 47, 43 Spotted (7 Punchbowl, 36 Fitzgibbon), 4 Reds (Fitzgibbon, small guys)
Marten: 1 (1 Punchbowl)
Stellar Sea Lions: ~20, Sucia Bay
Position: 55 58’57.32 N, 131 10’46.26 W
Course: Anchored
Position: 21-05-12 07:01:44 -0800
http://maps.google.com/maps?&ll=55.98259,-131.1795&q=55.98259,-131.1795&z=16