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):

Thomas Bay to Pybus Bay

Laura Domela — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 23:25:00 +0000

We got up early and were moving by 6am. Today is a 50 mile day to Cannery Cove at Pybus Bay and we figured we’d make miles while it was relatively calm. The forecast for Frederick Sound was 3 foot seas, but it was only like that for the last hour or so…the rest was pretty calm.

We saw several humpbacks from a pretty good distance as we were in the open part of Frederick Sound:

Just off of the Brothers Islands, there were some even closer (and HUGE):

Pybus Bay is at the southern tip of Admiralty Island, and the entrance is dotted with rocky islands. It’s gorgeous! (And the weather continued to be so nice!)

Entering Cannery Cove:

Our new anchorage:

There are some huge cool-looking jellyfish in here!

We put out some crab traps and dropped two more halibut lines and then took the dinghy out to look for bears. Almost immediately we spotted a sow and two cubs:

One of the cubs, noticing us:

We ventured around the corner into a small bay and surprised a young male (I think) as he was loping toward the water. As soon as he saw us he took off running for the woods.

Eagle on a stump:

When we returned there was a gorgeous boat anchored near us…the M/V Discovery, on a cruise from Juneau to Sitka:

The Discovery is an 87 foot Classic Yacht and was built in 1931 in San Pedro, CA for William Morris of the William Morris Agency. Alaska Charters! Check 'em out. This looks like the only kind of official "cruise" we'd ever be interested in doing…they are opportunistic rather than scheduled, they go kayaking, hiking, crabbing, have beach barbecues, go to hot springs. It's not all about all-you-can-eat and casino shows. Love it!

Also, while the kayakers from M/V Discovery were exploring, there was a brown bear on the shore behind them that I'm not sure they ever saw (see kayaker, middle left):

I made crab and asparagus enchiladas for dinner with our fresh crab from Thomas Bay.

For filling, I put a little butter in a sauce pan, added some light sour cream, a little milk, the crab meat, grated pepper jack, salt and pepper, and chopped asparagus. Fill tortillas in a glass dish, cover with more grated pepper jack, tomatillo salsa, and top with thinly sliced fresh jalapeño. Bake at 375 or so until done (when cheese is bubbly). SUPER yum.

Here's today's track (53.5 nautical miles, 7 hours 14 minutes):

Pybus Bay – Riveted

Portage Bay and Pybus Bay

Thomas Bay to Pybus Bay