Aug 7 – 12
Hi All,
8/7: Yeppa, the weather continues to suck….it finally quit raining sometime last night….maybe 40-45 straight hours….I’m guessing 4-5″ since Friday am…we woke up Sunday to gray skies, misty, and an occasional shower. I know better than to brag about nice weather or whine about yucky weather, but right now we feel downright pruney….arghhhhh!
We have a friend in Prince William Sound that said this has been the worst weather in his 8 years in Alaska. Then we have a friend in the south part of Alaska near Ketchikan and he tells us how sunny and warm the weather has been maybe 250 miles south of us…..arghhhhhh…we are certainly not feeling the luv from Mr Weather…come on, give us waterlogged folks a break!!!!
Windshield wiper: got it dried/cleaned and reinstalled and it’s working 90%. We have 3 wipers and the port one runs constantly, which is what it was doing before. No intermittent motion for Mr Eveready…..we just have to turn it on/off manually….a pita but better than nothing at all!!
We made the long passage to Didrickson Bay through Surveyor Passage….4.5nm, left ~9am, anchor down, passage beers opened all by 10:30am….well sort of…the anchor shackle came up foul again, so we idled in Didrickson Bay, lowered the dinghy, John took it under the bow pulpit, Kathy lowered the anchor into the dinghy, and voila, the pressure off, the shackle came loose and righted itself….then we went to anchor in front of a raging stream….beautiful. But, no salmon or bears. In fact we have not seen a bear since we left the head of Slocum….3 days ago…..and no salmon jumping since Kimshan anchorage 2 days ago….where did the salmon go????
Prawning: about 2.5 nm away I found a 300′ hole in Portlock Harbor, SW of Lock Island….got rained on pretty good setting the pots….1st pull; 1 med size, 5 very small ones….ugh; relocated pots to NNW of Snipe Is….2nd pull after a 48 hours soak: nada….oweee!!
8/8: We have friends on a cruise now in Alaska and we think they are leaving Cross Sound today….about 20nm to the north after a day in Glacier Bay and heading across the Gulf to PWS….we raised a toast around 5pm thinking maybe that was when they were leaving….yeppa, it’s a cruising thing when you are out all by yourself or it could be just an excuse to raise a toast:))))
We did another long passage….4.5nm to Pinta Bay….left around 11:00am after I did the prawn pot thing, anchor down, passage beers open all by 12:15pm….LIG!!! Well, this is close to a DDG anchorage. Very protected with a sea lion and otter giving us a show. It has a hill in front….maybe 1k’ high and a long cascading waterfall on an open patch of granite going down the entire side of the hill….a huge natural rock face with a small waterfall….lovely!! And we saw bears…..7 sightings in total walking along the shore and eating grass in several small meadows.
8/9: We have decided not to go to White Sulphur Hot Springs….we have been unable to get any local knowledge and per the guide book, there are a lot of rocks to avoid and a sharp dogleg to avoid a huge rock that requires a bow thruster in a 30′ channel. Mystic is 17′ wide so about 6′ clearance either side at high tide. Not a lot of wiggle room. Kathy was uncomfortable so we decided prudence was the way to go.
8/10: Moving day….another long one….6nm:)))) First John-boy did the prawn traps….in the rain again….yeppa….Mr Weather just can’t help himself…gave us 2 days of partial sun/clouds but no rain but today back to low clouds, mist, rain, damp…..ugh!!!! We moved to Baker Cove…..right next to Goulding Harbor….6nm, anchor down, passage beers opened by 12:30pm….DDG….small cove surrounded by lush forests and grass meadows. We saw a few salmon jumping and 6 bear sightings. One was a mama and 2 1st-year cubs….somehow they found a salmon on the shore partially eaten….maybe from an Eagle hunt….the mama ate a little then let the cubs finish it….they ate for a good 10 minutes!!! It was a great showing….maybe ~2 hours!!!
8/11: Our next move was to go ~25nm to Stag Bay off Lisianski Strait…..on the NW side of Chichagof Island but out of the open ocean waters….the forecast called for 4.3′ waves at 7.3 secs….seems reasonable so we said let’s go….Kathy actually had hopes that moving to the inside we could get out of this yucky weather. We decided to salmon fish a little before we went into the open ocean….Imperial Passage has been known to have some Kings….so we fished for ~3 hours….no joy…whaaaaaaa!!
There was ~8nm of open ocean waters…..it was not pleasant….better than a few weeks ago when we went into Slocum Inlet with 6-8′ waves….this time it was 4-6′ very confused seas….the worst kind….but, Mystic did great and the humans just sucked it up. And it was foggy, misty grey….yucky….at times 1/4 – 1/2mile visibility. The entrance into Lisianski Strait is narrow and full of rocks. But, we had done this twice before in very calm seas and sunny weather….in 2018 & 2019 and we had our old tracks….TG….as we are approaching the entrance…maybe 75′ away from some rocks with big breakers….the Garmin sonar goes completely brown ahead…like we are going to hit a wall/rock….the Simrad C44 had gone blank as well….I think I actually closed my eyes in sheer terror thinking we were going to hit a rock….but nothing happened…I snuck a peak at the Sonar and it was back reading 100′, same as the C44….ODG….I peeled my hands away from the wheel and well….we
nt to change my pants….not really, but holy turbulence….we guess it momentarily knocked out the instruments……arghhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Stag Bay is a double DDG….this is where it all started in 2018….us being fascinated by head of inlets with gorgeous meadows all surrounded by 1-2k’ mountains with lots of bears!!!! Anchor down, passage beers opened by 3:30pm!!!! We spent 2 nights here but only saw 2 bears….WTH???? And, there were a lot of salmon jumping….I took the dinghy close to the mudflat and saw hundreds and hundreds of salmon schooling in front of the multiple stream inlets. But no bears came out to fish…our best guess is there must be a better fishing location further up and out of sight.
Prawning: On the way into Stag Bay, ~3nm long, we noticed some prawn traps close to the entrance….ok, game on, local knowledge is always helpful….so the next morning we dropped the dinghy and I set both prawn traps….I also set a crab trap at 220′ near the head….and YES, WE HAVE PRAWNS….finally….75 prawns, 10 in one pot, 65 in the other, which is a single pot record for John-boy!!! The crab pot yielded just one small male, but most of the salmon head was eaten so there are small crabs around in deeper waters.
The Plan: We will leave on 8/13 for Port Althorp, on the north side of Chichagof Island, maybe 8nm from Elfin Cove, which we will visit next. We have been out for 3 weeks and need some dinghy gas and fresh food. From there, we will go to Idaho Inlet and then start making our way back to Sitka. We were going to go back south on the outside of Chichagof Island and cut in at Salisbury Sound but Mr Weather has other plans. The local forecast: “So for the upcoming week: there will be multiple systems moving in, these will bring increased winds and moderate to heavy rain, likely the beginning and end of the week. This will cause issue for marine and air travel as well as bring potential hydrology issues and potential flooding.”
So, we will take the long way back to Sitka….instead of 75nm, it will be closer to 200nm, but all pretty much in protected inside waters!!!
Critter Stat
Salmon: 18 (6 Kings, 3 Coho, 9 Pink)
– 12 & 16-lb caught in Fortuna Strait on green/white hoochie
– Fishing w/Dave: 5 kings, 1 Coho, and 1 Pink and 1 which we think was a Coho got away at the swim transom
– Slocum Arm: 1 Coho, 8 Pinks, from Piehle passage to Deuce Island
Whales: 36 Total (30 Humpback, 5 Minke, 1 Stejneger’s)
– 1 in Salisbury sound near Fortuna
Bears: 131: (117 Brown, 14 Blacks)
– 117 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; 1 Kalinin; With Dave: 1 in SJTB, 4 in Ushk; 4 in Falcon Arm/Slocum Arm; 1 Waterfall Cove/Slocum; 1 Flat Cove; 25+ Head of Slocum; 0 in Klag Bay; 0 in Kimshan; 7 in Pinta Bay; 6 in Baker Cove; 2 in Stag Cove
– 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: 32
– 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; 0 St John the Baptist, 3 Ushk Bay, 1 Deep Bay, 0 Falcon Arm, 0 Waterfall Cove; 0 Flat Cove; 0 Head of Slocum
Prawns: 280 Spotted:
– 80 Red Bluff, 31 Pybus Bay; 19 Gambier Bay; 5 in Port Frederick; 0 Pavlof; 13 Upper Tenakee Inlet, near Long Bay; 12 in Falcon Arm/Slocum; 36 Waterfall Cove/Slocum; 9 Flat Cove; 0 Island Cove; 6 in Port Hadlock (but didn’t keep them, too small); 75 in Stag Bay!!!!
Otters: 440
-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; 3 Salisbury Sound; 15 in Flacon Arm; 5 Waterfall; 1 Flat Cove; 5+ Ford Arm; 20+Klag Bay; 20+ Elbow and Ogden Passage; 1 in Kimshan; 10+ through Surveyor Passage into Didrickson Bay; 10+ on passage to Pinta Bay; 5 otters in Baker Cove; 5 in Stag Bay; 30+ in Port Althorp
Mountain Goats: 20+
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
Position: 58 06’23.29 N, 136 16’50.69 W
Course: Stopped.
Position: 22-08-13 17:02:56 -0800
http://maps.google.com/maps?&ll=58.10647,-136.2807&q=58.10647,-136.2807&z=16
