Fish Story and Fish in the Boat

Notes from early July – posted weeks later at the Petersburg Public Library. Town visits are popular for fresh produce and wi-fi access (plus I enjoy our visits with local residents and other boaters at the docks).

Guest Laci joined us in Sitka as we set out for Kalinin Bay. Ron & Laci fished The Shark Hole with Jerry (m/v Jericho) hoping to land some big king salmon. One big fish ran out the line on Laci’s pole, escaping with all of the gear trailing behind.  No salmon caught that day, but what a great fish-that-got-away story. Later in the week Laci did land a 25-pound halibut, 3 nice coho to freeze and take home, plus a smaller halibut for Tanya to prepare one of her fabulous fish fry dinners.

We didn't see any grizzly bear in Kalinin this week, not even one peekaboo sighting. Where were all of the grizzlies?! None in the estuary, none along the shoreline, none checking out the skiffs and kayaks on shore near the trailhead. No bear anywhere. Several Sitka black-tailed deer and an occasional sea otter accounted for all of our wildlife viewing. Who forgot to invite the brown bear, or the spawning pink salmon that lure them to the river mouth?

Sea Otters keep their distance

Do sea otters know the exact distance at which my Canon requires a tripod to insure good focus? Those cautious little critters with their cute, whiskery, grandpa-like faces manage to keep just far enough away from the boat to be out of range for a quick handheld shot. When the otters have occasionally swum close to the boat, they immediately roll over and disappear underwater at the slightest noise or even a hint of motion on my part. Drat! I’d forgive them for eating all of the crab in the bay if they would just drop by for a closeup.

Kalinin appears to be a summer residence for two pair of otters, a mother and youngster duo as well as an adult pair. Here’s a glimpse of one of our elusive neighbors, my latest otter-at-a-distance photos.

Fly Basin to Oliver Cove

Day 3                                    82.5 nm

Sea Otter keep their distance - just beyond camera range it seems

The 0400 weather reported lumpy water and 18 knot winds at Egg Island, with winds predicted to drop later in the morning. We went back to sleep. Our actual 0745 departure was a much better choice with rippled water and light winds for our travels. Oh, how I appreciate Environment Canada weather reporting!

   
Half a dozen fat sea otters floated around in Smith Sound, as wary as ever and keeping their distance from the boat. One lone killer whale surfaced inside False Egg Island and worked the shoreline of nearby islets. Wildlife watch certainly tops log watch for entertainment value.

A few tugs passed us today, heading south with unusual tows. One tug towed a single barge piled high with a jumbled stack of scrap metal. Occasional bits and pieces were recognizable, but mainly the cargo was a rusty, tangled mass. 

Near Bella Bella another tug pulled two barges piled high with a forest of stacked cedar logs, many still bristling with green-needled branches. An unusual sight; we’re used to seeing log barges carry stripped, de-branched logs. Where did each tug and tow come from? They were southbound, but I wondered where were they headed?

This Oliver Cove sign shows damage from vandals rather than weather.

We often run through Reid Passage, a more protected route inside of Ivory Island, but this is the first time Oliver Cove, a B.C. Marine Park, has been empty. The cove is fairly open to the channel but the anchorage was comfortable, with a good-holding bottom and no issue from passing boats' wakes. A well buoyed set-net floated off the south point at the cove’s entry and two more nets bobbed around along the far shore across the channel, but no one arrived to tend them during our stay.

Salmon and Otter and Bear, oh my!

July 14-20

Sitka to Kalinin Bay

Click on the photos to expand the size 

Sea otters are the cutest marine mammals, endearingly appealing with their whiskery, grandpalike faces and silly antics. They are also extremely wary and typically stay just out of good camera range, unlike their cousins the river otters. Every year we hope to capture some better otter shots. This year it helped that we found a large otter that swam closer to the boat to watch us while we watched him. 

This critter rolled and turned repeatedly, twisting effortlessly while he floated along mid-channel. Every now and again he’d pop his head up higher and study us. Was he posing for the camera? How un-otterlike.

Another otter swam around inside Kalinin Bay, weaving in and out among the anchored boats without concern. I wondered, was he there to feed on crab or the schools of salmon that were returning to swim upriver and spawn? We saw him dine on a lot of small crab each day. This otter was definitely not interested in being photographed; he kept his distance.

Sitka deer romped along the Kalinin shore, chasing each other around in between periods of grazing. Two grizzlies roamed the same area, munching on the tall bear grass farther up on the shore. The bear sightings were infrequent, but close enough to our anchorage that it was easy bear viewing.

The larger bear had a scruffy coat, its hindquarters a patchwork of uneven colors and texture. 

The smaller bear looked less bedraggled, was more timid and easily startled, wandering back and forth between its sibling and the shelter of the brushy treeline. 

The water outside the bay was pretty lumpy, stirred up by storms offshore, so we turned back on our first two fishing excursions. The Capt fished solo on the third trip into Salisbury Sound and came back with two nice salmon and a big grin. The grin grew larger and so did the fish as the days went by. We ate a lot of salmon that week.

White gums are indicators of a coho salmon

I had a bad case of skiff envy. There were times we didn’t go fishing because the water outside the bay was too rough for comfort and safety in our 13-foot Boston Whaler. The guys in a 20-foot, enclosed cabin, aluminum skiff fished more often and caught more salmon, King salmon, than anyone else in the bay. I don't want to tow a skiff while we travel, but when we fish...  Skiff envy, for sure. (and that skiff probably had a head and a heater too!)

The weather was incredibly changeable, blowing and still, downpours and spots of sunshine (briefly), foggy and then clear… and all that in one day! That's summer in Southeast.

NO! that little spot of blue doesn't count as a sunny day

Cruising the Outside Waters

Outside waters, that’s what NOAA Weather calls this region of SE Alaska. If you look west you can see Kamchatka. No, not really... Kodiak Island and the Aleutians would get in the way. But trust me, it looks like an empty horizon where you can see the edge of the earth. Southern Baranof Island has some of the most stunningly gorgeous scenery in SE Alaska. The western coastline is rugged, with narrow fjords running inland for miles between towering, jagged mountains. Crashing surf from the Gulf of Alaska buffets the seaward side of the many small islands and the entrances to the fjords. It is gorgeous in the sunshine, and almost ghostly in the fog.

We have explored a portion of this coastline before, but were turned back by wind and high seas, boat issues, or a schedule that wouldn’t allow for waiting out the weather. This year we had a good weather window, with predicted reasonable seas and no fixed schedule. But weather is an ever-changing issue, so we kept our cruise plan flexible.

We traveled south from Sitka along the coast between Cape Edgecumbe and Cape Decision, running inside the protection of small islands whenever possible. We stayed inshore, out of the big water, and had the choice of running into any of the many sheltering inlets and bays if the winds blew up unexpectedly.

Many boaters love to travel outside in the open ocean, but I favor the security of the inside/outside route, even if our path has us winding through small, intricate passages. Some of these passages were narrow, winding and so shallow that I declared we don't need to do that again! The captain didn't comment (smart man).

Photo: First Narrows, a reasonable passage

Salmon runs were miles offshore and so were most of the fishermen (except for us) . A few trollers worked the inshore area, but we only saw a handful of boats during the week. We didn't see any other cruising boats.

Photo: Capt Ron patiently waits for fish, I brought a book and a camera

The locals report that a burgeoning sea otter population is wiping out the crab along the coast. That may be true, but it's hard not to love these comical creatures. Drat! They always manage to stay just out of range of my camera's 20x zoom - how do they know?

Photos: remember to double-click to enlarge the images.

Photo: more than 100 otter, too many to fit in one image!

Goddard Hot Springs, Dorothy Pass, Big Bay, First and Second Narrows, Scow Bay, Shamrock Bay, West Crawfish Inlet, President Bay, Cedar Pass, Herring Bay, Redoubt Bay, Kidney Cove... each one was uniquely impressive, and we were only a third of the way to Cape Decision. Then the weather forecast changed, and we returned to Sitka ahead of the forecast storm with predicted fourteen foot seas. The boat can handle lumpy water, but it's just not fun.

(Note: the weather front stalled for a few days, but turning back was still a good decision. We'll try again another year.) 

Photo: this deer was curious, coming out of the brush to watch us.

Photo: Bald eagles are easy to spot everywhere... look for the round white spots.

Photo: Seals basking in the sunshine.