Fishing – Riveted

Sunrise, Sunset, and Fishing in Yelapa

Laura Domela — Mon, 12 Mar 2018 20:15:44 +0000

Yesterday after breakfast in our casa, we walked into the village and caught the 9:30am water taxi into Puerto Vallarta. Not because we wanted to go to Puerto Vallarta…but because we needed a bit more cash. There are no ATMs in Yelapa, so if you come to visit, make sure to get enough pesos to last the entire length of your stay.

Sunrise from Casa Pericos, looking toward the village

We walked around Puerto Vallarta for an hour or so, found the hotel we’ll be staying in for two nights before we come back to Portland, got some cash, and hopped on the 11:30am water taxi back to Yelapa. We relaxed a bit in the afternoon, and Kevin took the Mavic off right from our room to get a few drone shots of our fantastic location.

The water looks SO green when the sun shines on it!

Later in the evening we wandered back into the village to have dinner at Pollo Bollo. This place is a favorite among locals and it did not disappoint. We ordered one plate of BBQ chicken, one plate of arrachera (marinated and grilled beef…can be hangar steak, flank steak…) that came with sides of arroz y frijoles y ensalada.

Sunset from our casa after dinner

We packed up our bag last night for today’s fishing excursion, and tested our alarm sounds to make sure we had the most annoying one that could be heard over the sound of the surf below. It worked!!

Sunrise in Yelapa

So early it was almost still dark!

Our charter boat (Ixa from Garcia Charters…obviously highly recommended…we’re going out with them again in the same week!)) picked us up once again on Playa Isabel and off we went to try to catch some fish! (And by fish, we mean more ceviche.)

We headed south this time, looking for red snapper, but after a few hours of trolling up and down the coast we were still empty-hooked. Luckily, it was beautiful out and we were in good company and Juan Carlos humored us and we were able to practice a LOT of Spanish while we were waiting for the fish that never materialized.

Rocky coastline

Jonas driving the boat!

We noticed a lot of bird action and splashing around a little further out than we were, so we went to check it out.

Seagills, frigates, pelicans…everyone was here!

Most of the splashing came from a ZILLION dolphins (delfínes en espanol)!

Delfínes!

Mas delfínes!

Muchos delfínes!

Kevin and Jonas were still casting lines out, and Kevin got a bite on his…whatever he had was strong! We caught a glimpse of it before it took off with a bunch of line…a Jack Crevalle (in Spanish they call this fish “Toro” — the bull). This is not a good fish to eat, but it’s a REALLY fun fish to catch. It’s a super duper fighter and makes for a great workout just getting it to the boat.

Kevin got it aboard, we took the obligatory photos, and then let it to back in to chase or be chased by dolphins.

So…no ceviche today, but we had a great time regardless. We had a wonderful boat ride down the coast, saw a ton of dolphins and even a mama and baby humpback just south of Yelapa a little way…we even saw the baby whale breach a few times…very cool! Maybe we’ll see the very same whales (las ballenas) in Alaska this summer!

Tonight we’ll probably walk into the village for dinner (because, no fish). Todo bueno.

Islas Marietas

Laura Domela — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 22:07:03 +0000

Kevin and I each set our alarms for 6am this morning. Our charter was going to pick us up on the beach next door at 7am to go out to the Islas Marietas, do some fishing, and generally explore the bay a bit. On our first night here we met a cool lady visiting from Victoria, BC, who we’d invited to share the charter with us, so it would just be the three of us aboard today (plus captain and crew). The plan was for the boat to pick us up first, then get our new friend from the pier closer to the village where she’s staying.

Sleeping to the sound of the surf below our room here is lovely, however…it is apparently loud enough to mask the sound of BOTH of our alarms for over an hour! I opened my eyes, noticed the light, raised my head to look toward the water, then back to my iPhone, where it read “Alarm” — meaning it was going off right then (I couldn’t hear it at all). It was 7:20am. Curses were uttered as we quickly dressed, packed what we needed (well, most of it) and looked out to see if we could spot a boat. Nope.

I checked back a few minutes after we were mostly ready and saw our ride out in front of the beach looking for us. I waved big to see if I could get their attention, and I did. A wave back, a thumbs up, and we bolted down stairs to meet them. Whew!! After many heartfelt “lo sientos” we were on our way.

Sun coming up through some fog and clouds

We cruised the 15 nautical miles or so out to the Islas Marietas (saw a nice big humpback on our way), but we couldn’t even see the islands until we were less than a quarter mile from them due to some pretty thick fog.

Low visibility at the Islas Marietas

We figured swimming might be a little cold at this point so we opted to do our fishing first while we waited for the fog to burn off.

Fishing in the fog

More fishing, more rocks

Couple of sea lions making a racket on the rocks

We trolled four lines for quite some time with no luck in the fog, and for a while I thought “Man, what if we’re not going to get a good visit to the islands OR catch any fish on this outing?” but eventually we got into some mackerel and did really well.

Two of these were filleted and set aside for ceviche, and the other plus one more that we caught after this photo were filleted and put in a Ziploc for fish tacos tonight.

We kept catching, and catching, and eventually we called it at 13 mackerel.

Mackerel!

We pulled in our lines and headed back to the islands to see how things were looking. Some of the fog had burned off and our captain Juan Carlos asked if we wanted to go to the beach, snorkeling, or swimming through the sea cave into the hidden beach inside the island. Um, number three please! No contest.

In the early 1900s these uninhabited islands were used by the Mexican government to conduct military testing. Many bombings and explosions took place here, but in the late 1960s Jacques Cousteau led an international uprising of sorts to garner protection for this area rich with sea life, and the park has been a national park since the 60s. No hunting, fishing, or human activity is allowed. The government allows only a few companies to bring passengers out for very limited landing in specific areas.

Once we had our official wristbands and helmets and were properly checked in with the park officials (which was basically just getting close to their boat and showing them we had required wristbands, helmets, and life jackets), we were given the okay to go in. (The cave you swim through has a rocky, crumbly ceiling of volcanic rock, and if a big wave came while you were swimming through….well, you might hit your head, hence, helmets.)

Juan Carlos and Arlene stayed back, while Jonas went with us to the island.

Kevin and I in the water (taken by Arlene):

The recommendation was to put the lifejackets around our waists to make it easier to swim. They ended up looking a lot like water wings!

None of these photos do this place justice. At all.

We picked up a little waterproof camera before we left Portland (a Nikon Coolpix S33, refurbished, for $65 on amazon), and although it’s not the best, it was certainly the only camera I was able to swim with so I could get any photos at all.

When we arrived, one large group of people were on their way out from the hidden beach and we were the only ones in there during our visit.

The tide was actually coming in while we walked on the beach, so we thought we might want to get out while we could!

Several other boats with passengers, waiting their turn.

Back aboard, Juan Carlos was hard at work making fresh ceviche for everyone.

Just-caught mackerel, red onion, cucumber, tomato, peppers, salt, shoyu, and some other secret ingredients = delicious! We brought a few cans of Pacifico to share and it went very well with the ceviche!

As we headed back to Yelapa, we spotted this bird hitching a ride on the back of a giant sea turtle!

So even with our rocky start, we got to do ALL OF THE THINGS today. We caught fish, swam through a sea cave to a hidden beach, ate fresh ceviche, drank cold beer, saw whales, sea turtles, sea lions, and a plethora of sea birds, and now we’re back at this beautiful casa in Yelapa with fresh fish to cook for dinner.

p.s. We highly recommend these guys at Garcia Charters! (So much so, that I think we may go out with them again while we’re in Yelapa!)

Klewnuggit Bay (East Inlet), and Farrant Island Lagoon | BC

Laura Domela — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 23:40:00 +0000

We left Prince Rupert a little on the late side (after 10am). We gathered our crab traps (six females, and one keeper male), had breakfast and then got underway. We were originally aiming for Lowe Inlet in Grenville Channel, but decided we should try a new place, and the east inlet of Klewnuggit Bay looked intriguing.

It was beautiful. When we arrived (6pm-ish) it was gray and a little rainy (as it had been all day). We set the crab traps out and made dinner (crab with spinach tortellini and a brussels sprouts salad). In the morning, it had cleared up a bit and the water was mirror still. Like this:

I took a bunch of cool reflection photos, but I want to play with ‘em a bit before posting, so they’ll come in another post.

We took the dinghy to explore a little and retrieve the crab traps. (We had three keeper males.)

Stream at the head of the bay:

Airship at anchor:

Blue sky, even!

Kevin said he saw a bunch of fish on sonar just outside the East Arm, so we decided to anchor and see about doing some fishing. We found a spot on the chart that looked like a slight rise between two deeper parts, and thought it looked like a place halibut might go…so we dropped two halibut lines. We pulled up three spiny dogfish (put ‘em back) and then…we got what we were hoping for. A 48.5 inch, 57 pound halibut! This one was quite a fighter too. Kevin reeled it to the surface, and I harpooned it right where I needed to. Woohoo, our second halibut (and the biggest fish we’ve ever caught).

We left Klewnuggit Bay around 2pm (after all the halibut hubbub) and headed for Hartley Bay. But then as we were reading about different spots on Grenville Channel, we found Farrant Island Lagoon. You get to this anchorage through a narrow entrance between Pitt Island and Farrant Island, on the west side of Grenville Channel, through a tight spot called Hawkins Narrows. On a Spring tide, the current can run to 8 knots in Hawkins Narrows (and it’s about 10 feet deep on a zero tide I think), so it’s preferred to go through at high slack. We were about an hour and a half before high slack so the current would be going with us, but the moon is half full (or empty, depending on how you look at things) and the tide swing is only about 8 feet, so we gave it a shot. We had just over a knot of current going with us, but it was no big deal and we went through easily. Once the bay opens up, it’s beautiful in there. Farrant Island Lagoon is a ways in, through another small narrows and once inside it feels like you’re in your own little secret anchorage. We put the crab traps out and went for some dinghy exploring while it wasn’t raining.

Approaching Hawkins Narrows:

Anchored:

Exploring:

Definitely a “come back to” spot.

We pulled anchor this morning just before 7am and went through Hawkins Narrows about a half hour after slack and there was no noticeable current at all. Back in Grenville Channel now and it’s foggy and rainy and a little choppy. Our next destination is Khutze Bay. We decided that as we make our way south, we’d try to stop at more places we haven’t been before, but there’s nothing we found on the chart that looked as good as Khutze Bay, so we’re going back.

Peril Strait Anchorages | Deep Bay and Half Tide Neck

Laura Domela — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 17:15:05 +0000

We left Sitka on Tuesday morning and once through Sergius Narrows we decided to stay in Deep Bay. We put out crab traps and made dinner and didn’t really take any photos. The weather looked like this:

Inside Deep Bay:

No thanks, I’d rather be in the boat:

We fished a bit and caught one black rockfish but no salmon, so we made rockfish tacos for dinner.

On Wednesday morning our crab traps collectively had 20 crabs in them! Twenty! But guess what? Nineteen of them were females and we had only one male keeper. One out of twenty!! Apparently this used to be a great crabbing spot earlier in the season. We took our one crab and headed out. Still pretty rainy and cloudy. We decided instead of Appleton Cove we’d go someplace new, and anchored at Half Tide Neck in Hoonah Sound. Cool spot! (We caught another black rockfish on the way from Deep Bay to Half Tide Neck. Still no salmon.)

We set the crab pots out again (come on, one more!) and then did a little exploring.

Half Tide Neck panorama:

For dinner tonight I made rockfish cakes. (Same method as crab cakes, but with rockfish…and a tiny bit of leftover salmon…and I added some diced jalapeno.)

They turned out great!

There’s a mooring ball at the Half Tide Neck anchorage, and a little cabin. At first I thought it might be a forest service cabin, but I think it must be private. Sweet location!

This morning the clouds had lifted a little and we decided we’d forego Appleton Cove and go all the way to Takatz Bay in Northern Chatham Strait. The conditions were forecast to be good in Chatham (15 knot winds and 3 foot seas), so we’d make some miles and go to another new (to us) spot. We saw a couple humpbacks, and some more Pacific White-Sided dolphins. Boy do those guys move fast!

Where Peril Strait meets Chatham Strait:

Nice to see some blue sky, finally!!

Once out in the strait the conditions were more like 20 knot winds with 3-4 foot seas, but whatever. It was bumpy, but it was sunny!

Our First Halibut!

Laura Domela — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 06:16:32 +0000

Not long after my earlier post about how we were anchored off of Skull Island, fishing for halibut, we caught our first halibut! Kevin got it nicely up to the boat and I had the harpoon at the ready. When the halibut was perfectly positioned, I aimed for just behind the gill plate and went for it. I didn’t get the point all the way through the fish, but I did get a good strike right to his gills so the fish started bleeding out immediately. Anyway, I really don’t like the details of killing stuff, but I do love halibut, so there ya go.

This guy was 43 inches tip to tail, and about 37 pounds. The ~~autopsy~~ filleting begins:

We ended up with about 16 pounds of fillets (including what we’re going to eat for dinner tonight). We portioned it out and vacuum-sealed it into meals for two. Pretty sweet! Now to make room in the freezer!!

The weather improved like crazy today. Look at this shot from our fishing spot:

We returned to Admiralty Cove and anchored for the night. The light on the mountain behind us is so pretty right now:

We dinghied out to check the crab pots and the first one had one of those gigantic starfish (called a Sunflower Sea Star) in it with all the digesting tendrils wrapped around our bait bag, and what we think was a little flounder. The second trap had an even MORE gigantic Sunflower Sea Star in it, two of the small flounders, and a tiny crab. So we moved the traps to the other side of the bay. We’ll see how we do in the morning. But right now: grilled halibut, sauteed spinach, and roasted potatoes!

We’re heading back to Juneau tomorrow for some fireworks, boat washing, and laundry. Woohoo!

Tonight’s sunset:

We really, REALLY love being in Alaska on our boat. Coolest thing ever. For real.

Juneau to Admiralty Cove

Laura Domela — Sat, 02 Jul 2016 20:38:56 +0000

Above photo: sunset in Juneau, Thursday night.

We left Juneau midday yesterday and headed for Admiralty Cove. Admiralty Cove is about three hours from Juneau, at the top of Admiralty Island. The weather was crappy, but we fished for a bit anyway (out near Skull Island). We eventually called it and headed in to anchor for the night and make dinner (salmon, brussels sprouts salad, and some roasted baby potatoes).

The sky cleared up just a little bit last night and from our anchorage we had a killer view of a full, very close rainbow. I couldn’t get the whole thing in one frame…that’s how close it was.

The wind blew pretty good all night and we had more rain (and slappy waves against the bow, but it wasn’t bad), but today has been nice. We’re now anchored in about 175 feet on the south side of Skull Island doing a little halibut fishing. This morning before we came out here we put our crab traps out in the cove, so we’re hoping for dinner of halibut or crab.

We’ll anchor again tonight in Admiralty Cove and then head back into Juneau tomorrow (July 3). Fourth of July fireworks start at 11:59pm on July 3, and apparently we’ll have a killer view of them from Steve’s dock. We’ll likely spend the 4th doing laundry and cleaning the boat, getting ready for our friends Todd and Loek to join us on the 5th (back to Ford’s Terror!! Yay!!)

Happy Saturday!

Pybus Bay to Tracy Arm Cove

Laura Domela — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 02:19:20 +0000

Hey whatdy’a know? Our crab traps had crab in ‘em this morning. Cannery Cove does not disappoint. Three keeper males, and two females. One of the males was HUGE. He was so big that I thought the smallest male might not be big enough, but when we measured him, he was off the scale and definitely big enough. My calibration was totally thrown off by this guy:

Kevin cleaned the crabs while I made breakfast and then we headed out into Stephens Passage. Stephens Passage is notoriously thick with humpbacks so we figured today would be about humpbacks.

We saw two humpbacks while still in Pybus Bay, and then as we came around the corner out into Stephens Passage, we noticed a brown bear sow and two cubs on the shore, so we went in to get a closer look.

As we were passing Gambier Bay and approaching Point Hugh, the area was just THICK with whales.

Spouts everywhere, tails everywhere, and then we noticed some serious splashing a ways away, toward the point. We binoc’d it and it was a whole lot of tail slapping. Like, maybe 20 times in a row…and then all over again! Crazy!

Pretty soon we were distracted by about 10 Dall’s porpoises who came zipping over to surf our bow wake. They are SO. MUCH. FUN! They were with us for about 15 minutes, doing somersaults and corkscrew rolls…it was a blast to watch (all the while with tail slapping humpback in the background). Those porpoises peeled off, only to be replaced 10 minutes later by another group. And then repeat, several times over. It seemed like we had porpoises playing in our bow wake ALL DAY. Seriously. It was nuts.

Kevin took some video and made this very cool (and totally mesmerizing) compilation:

As we approached Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm, we decided to stop and fish for halibut for a little bit. We anchored near the opening to Endicott Arm and Kevin put two halibut lines in the water. I was uploading photos when he said (about 15 minutes after putting the lines out) “I think something’s biting on my line. Come feel.” So I went out and yeah, you could definitely feel the fish chomping on the bait and pulling on the line. We knew better than to do anything, so we just waited until the fish started to swim away with his snack all eaten, and then started reeling him in. Whoa…it was a big one. It felt like an “uh oh, how are we going to get this in the boat” big one. I was right. I took a few quick photos just as Kevin got him to the surface, and then grabbed the gaff. But when I whacked him with the gaff it just bounced off his head (oops) and then after about 30 more seconds, he got loose. We could tell that the hook was just barely in his lip, and he was able to shake it off. Well dangit. But it was super cool to see…and to get him all the way to the boat. We’re estimating it was about 48” long….and maybe 70 pounds. Hard to tell on the weight, but I’m certain of the length. It was big, and the first halibut we’ve almost caught. I think we need a longer gaff, and a harpoon. (You can’t even tell how big it is from this photo, but trust me, it was, well…too big for the boat.)

We are now anchored in Tracy Arm Cove with several other boats. Apparently Tracy Arm hasn’t been navigable to the glacier all season, not even by the small tour boats. From the looks of all the icebergs way out here at the entrance, I can see how that might be. From what we hear the glacier is having record calving, and the icebergs in Stephens Passage are moving north, when they normally move south. So…things are wacky with the glacier this year. View from our anchorage:

Melting ice:

Sumdum Glacier:

Our plan tomorrow is to maybe fish for more halibut, and then go into Ford’s Terror for a day or two, and then to the end of Endicott Arm to check out Dawes Glacier (which we haven’t seen before). For dinner tonight, we cooked up some fresh Dungeness crab and ate it as-is, with a side salad I made from shredded brussels sprouts, crushed almonds, olive oil, and a little bit of my homemade caesar dressing. It was so good!

Here’s today’s track from Cannery Cove at Pybus Bay to Tracy Arm Cove (44.9 nautical miles, 6 hours 10 minutes):

And here’s a photo of many icebergs in the distance, quite a bit north from the entrance to Tracy Arm:

Portage Bay and Pybus Bay

Laura Domela — Sun, 19 Jun 2016 18:04:24 +0000

We got away from Petersburg Saturday morning on the lazy side (10am or so), stopping at the fuel dock on our way out to fill up. We thought maybe we’d go all the way to Pybus Bay, or maybe we’d fish and stop in Portage Bay … we ended up doing the latter and fishing our way along the shore from Petersburg to Portage Bay and caught a big Chinook, so it totally paid off!

First keeper king salmon at 32 inches! (Our scale rusted out, so we don’t know how much it weighed, but we DO know that we got 10 beautiful filets out of it.)

We anchored Saturday night just inside Portage Bay. Portage Bay is a scenic, open anchorage…well-protected and room for many boats. We took the smallest salmon filets and grilled them for some salmon tacos, and I made a brussels sprouts/cucumber/scallion slaw. Yummy! Portage Bay last night:

Our route from Petersburg to Portage Bay (23 nautical miles, 6 hours 52 minutes (includes fishing time):

This morning (Sunday) we popped up early and decided to take advantage of the calm water in Frederick Sound.

Portage Bay this morning:

We fished a bit more but didn’t catch anything, so we eventually pulled our lines in and headed for Cannery Cove at Pybus Bay.

Like I said, it was calm calm calm in Frederick Sound today.

The weather was perfect, and exactly what you want for Cannery Cove scenery.

We anchored in 60 feet or so, put a couple halibut lines out, then went to set out our two crab traps.

We’re pretty certain of the crab sitch, less certain of the halibut sitch. We grilled some of our freshly caught chinook for dinner (with caesar salad and rosemary garlic potatoes) and after dinner I noticed one of the halibut lines doing a little dance, but I think we tried to pull it in before the guy had enough time to really get a good taste of that salmon belly. Lesson for today (we’re learning): let them enjoy their meal before trying to reel ‘em in!

More around Pybus Bay:

The moon Sunday night in Cannery Cove:

Today’s route from Portage Bay to Pybus Bay: 38.0 nautical miles, 7 hours 53 minutes (includes fishing time):

Fun and Fish in Juneau

Laura Domela — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:55:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Yesterday we did a bunch of work at the boat, went up and put some laundry in, and were let in on a great deal to pick up some freshly caught sockeyes for $6/lb (we bought two, about 10lbs), from Joe the gillnetter here at the dock. He sends most of his fish straight to Seattle, but now we know a guy who knows Joe and got to be part of the "bro deal" today:

This is Joe. He looks just very much like Sam Elliot:

We picked up our fish and took them back to Steve's warehouse, where Steve filleted them for us (aka "showed us how it's done") and we vacuum sealed them right there:

Here's today's procurement (along with two nice chunks of halibut from Steve's 125-pounder he caught the day before)! We kept one sockeye filet and one halibut filet out and put the rest into the freezer.

Last night for dinner I made some guacamole and cooked up some black beans while Kevin grilled up the fresh fish for tacos and we had Steve over for dinner to thank him for all of his help (well and just to hang out, because he's cool). We're probably going to stay another day here before heading to Taku Harbor (and, ultimately…sniff sniff…south).

Tomorrow morning we'll take another trip over to the marine supply store and get ourselves outfitted with some halibut rods and a bigger net (we seriously need a bigger net…wait til I show you a photo of what we've been using to bring in fish). Then we may go out on Steve's boat with him later in the day to pull up his halibut skate line…because he invited us to, and it sounds like fun to see how that all works! This is the basic configuration:

Image source.

Residents of Alaska can subsistence fish (fish for personal use or sharing with family) under slightly more relaxed rules and regulations as it relates to fishing methods and the limit of fish you can keep.

It's interesting…the last time (a week or two ago) when we were in Juneau for a week, we had actually gotten a little bored of Juneau. We'd been doing so much exploration in more remote coves and inlets, and coming to Juneau was mainly (after the first time) to drop off friends or pick up family, provision, get work done with reliable internet, etc. It's one thing to visit a place and just skim the surface (visit some shops, go to the museum, eat at a couple restaurants, try the local beer, ride the tram, do the hike, see the glacier)…all that is great but it only really gives you one interpretation. This time, even with the bit of mechanical stuff and haul and out all, we've met some great people and connected a little more with Juneau, and it's been so enjoyable!

Dundas Bay and Flynn Cove, AK

Laura Domela — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 02:54:38 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

We left Pelican yesterday morning around 7:30am and headed toward Dundas Bay in Glacier Bay National Park. It was sprinkling a little bit, but the sky was clearing and we had a nice view of Brady Glacier underneath a cloud layer as we entered Cross Sound.

Cross Sound was literally swell-less…just a very slight chop. We made our way into Dundas Bay, an unrestricted part of Glacier Bay National Park that you don’t need a permit for. Since Glacier Bay National Park is about the size of Connecticut (well, most things are up here in Alaska) we decided to save it for another trip, since it's likely we won't have internet in there for a week or so, and we've already asked a lot of our team in the way covering for us while we explore all these remote areas with no internet). We headed for what was recommended as the best anchorage in Dundas Bay, the most NW arm with a view of Brady Glacier:

Yep, I think this’ll do.

Here's our track from Pelican to the Dundas Bay anchorage (36.2 nautical miles):

We took a dinghy excursion around to the mouth of the bay and saw tons of otters, sea lions, and lots of wood, but no bears.

More photos from the dinghy excursion around the bay:

The otters are so comic!

Oops. Sorry to interrupt, guys!

This one used the other one's head to "step up on" to get up higher for a better view. So rude!

Heading back toward Airship (teeny, teeny tiny white dot you probably can't see):

Later in the evening the clouds cleared again and gave us a nice view (as opposed to that earlier, crappier view):

We made dinner (a couple tenderloins and a salad) and watched a movie (Birdman) and got to bed again on the early side.

This morning the skies were blue as we left our anchorage in Dundas Bay, but there was a bit of fog once we got out of the bay. We took turns taking showers and manning the helm as we motored along and once out in Icy Strait the waters were calm and the skies and seas gorgeous silvers and grays:

Clearing to blue skies (and nothing was done to this photo…this is exactly how it looked in real life):

Jellyfish (also no color enhancement at all):

We anchored for a few hours and fished for halibut, but didn't get any into the boat. We had two hits, but lost them on the way up. We've read more about how to reel in halibut now so maybe next time!

We headed toward Adolphus Point (the place where we saw all the bubble-net feeding humpbacks):

Nearing the point we saw a feisty orca:

And then a few more humpbacks (more of those "too close" humpbacks):

This one had a little notch in his hump. Awwww.

We decided to anchor for the night in Flynn Cove instead of going to Hoonah.

Approaching Flynn Cove:

We have enough provisions (veggies, is really what we're talking about here) to last us another night or two so we thought this cove would be fun (since we already spent two nights in Hoonah) before heading into Juneau to refuel and re-provision. We trolled on our way into Flynn Cove and caught a nice coho salmon (27 inches, 7 lbs) just before our anchorage. Woohoo, dinner!

View from Airship:

Dinner was a(nother) risotto with peas and parmesan topped with a grilled coho fillet (two hours, line to dinner plate!). It was delicious!

Today's track (37 nautical miles). Dundas Bay (L) with Brady Glacier, to Flynn Cove on Chicagof Island (R):

Tomorrow: more fishing!