Misty Fjords with Mijonet | Part 1

Kevin and Mijonet (granddaughter, 8, on her first solo trip!) arrived from Seattle on time in Ketchikan on Wednesday afternoon. We got Mij all unpacked and then headed up to the Bar Harbor Restaurant to have some dinner (Mij had a pound of clams to celebrate her arrival into the Land of Seafood). After dinner, Kevin and Mij got out their matching (telescoping) fishing rods and Kevin taught Mij how to cast. She caught on really fast!

By morning the wind had died down considerably. We left the dock around 7am and headed for Misty Fjords. Just as we were about to enter Behm Canal we found a humpback breaching like crazy. This guy was so active! We counted about 15 breaches in a row, then fin slaps, then about a dozen more breaches….so much energy! The first breach was usually a full one and the subsequent breaches were not quite full…but still seriously splashy.

 

We watched for a while and then continued on, since our cruise today was a long one. In Behm Canal we came upon some more Pacific White Sided Dolphins, but they didn’t come swim with us…must have been too busy eating fish.

We arrived in Walker Cove just after 5pm. There was no one else here, so we grabbed the one mooring ball and then went out to set crab traps. While we were setting the second trap we saw a black bear sow and two cubs on shore, so we followed them up the river a bit (from a distance). The sow was combing the shore for fish, as her two little ones followed along. It was so cool (except for the insane amount of bugs flying around us).      

Up river a bit (it was just about high tide) we saw several seals, and then something weird floating/swimming in front of us a ways. It was kind of long, and didn’t really look like a seal head. I said “What IS that?” as we slowed down…it was alive, but didn’t look like a seal OR an otter. I picked up the camera and zoomed in…it WAS a seal, but with just its snout sticking out of the water…and it was swimming upside down! Silly seal!

I made a shrimp boil for dinner in the pressure cooker. This is a pretty cool recipe, actually. Beer, spices, potatoes, corn, sausage, and shrimp…5 minutes on high in the pressure cooker and boom! Super fast!