Airship Goes to Alaska
This morning we got up on the early side (I know, big shocker) and Kevin went out the check the crab traps. He took the walkie talkie with him, and pretty soon I get a call saying the first trap was stuffed full with crabs and that he doesn't even know how many are in there.
This is how many legal males we had: 15!! We limited out again, so we put some back. But holy moly! We have a lot of crab cleaning and cooking and picking to do! (These are all WAY bigger than the six-and-a-half-inches-not-counting-horns measurement across the back. WAY bigger.) 🙂
We got out of Taku Harbor at 7am (before the 3 foot minus tide, so we could get our boat out from the inside dock space!) and decided to troll for salmon. Our cruise to Juneau was only 19 miles, so we had time. It was quiet and drizzling a little as we motored on, watching a couple of eagles fishing alongside us (good sign!):
We'd barely exited the harbor when there was a big splash next to the boat. We looked around and waited, and pretty soon there were four Pacific white-sided dolphins playing around our boat. They were coming from over there by the shore and rocks where they'd probably been fishing too:
They were in front, then going under, popping up along side, back in front….I love these guys! It's so much fun, because they aren't just going about their business while you watch from a distance. They're over there eating, doing their dolphin thing, and they see your boat, and they're all "Hey!! Let's play!!" and THEY come to YOU. It's awesome, and it was my favorite part of sailing to Catalina on my grandpa's sailboat when I was a kid….sitting out on the bow sprit with the dolphins surfing beneath me.
It was a magical morning. We're trolling along for salmon after catching a ton of Dungeness crab, heading for Juneau, Alaska, in our boat that we brought here ourselves, and there are dolphins playing all around us. Kevin said "Is this even REAL?"
It's real, and it's fantastic.
The shoreline at the base of Taku Mountain, at Grave Point, is so rocky:
We caught no fish. We might have had one strike, but no matter. We continued on to Juneau, fished a bit more after entering Gastineau Channel (there were fish and bait fish showing on the sonar, and several other boats fishing) but we eventually pulled the line in and headed for the harbor.
Waterfall below cloud cover in Gastineau Channel:
Cruise ships in Juneau Harbor:
Misty mountain cover:
We're in Harris Harbor now, the harbor closest to town. We'll be doing laundry, re-provisioning, cleaning up the boat, doing a whole lotta work, getting a couple things at the marine store, and then meeting up with our friends Tiffani and Deke when they arrive on Saturday night. They'll be cruising around with us for the next two weeks, so posts might be less frequent, but we'll try to keep updating with the highlights!
Our plans at this point include Tracy Arm, Sawyer Glacier, Ford's Terror (don't worry mom, it's not as bad as it sounds), Pack Creek Bear Observatory, Pybus Bay (again), Kake, Saginaw Bay, Red Bluff Bay, Baranoff Hot Springs, and then…? We'll be in Sitka around July 3rd, so we'll see how much we can fit in before then (a lot, I bet!)
Here's today's track (26 miles in all, counting all our coastal trolling):
Wonder how old that ice is? It sure looks better than those white cubes my fridge spits out…
It was better than any other ice we’ve ever had!! 🙂