08/01/2011

The view off our bow.

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Don/Warmer
08/01/2011, Foggy Bay

Rafted in Foggy Bay

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08/01/2011

Oh my!

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Don/Warmer
08/01/2011, Foggy Bay

Raising our flag.

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Don/Warmer
08/01/2011, Foggy Bay

This morning, Dave and I got up at 5:00 to go salmon fishing. We were psyched. The rods were geared up and stored on the new rod holders that Katie and I put on this spring. The downrigger was locked in place on Rubber Ducky. The Ducky was itching to go, tied to the stern of our boat. We loaded her up with all our rods and fishing gear as well as a crab pot, baited with a rockfish head that we caught yesterday.

Prior to the trip, I had spotted a stream on the charts in Very Inlet, near Foggy Bay. (Dungeness Crabs often gather in the brackish water of a fresh water outflow. They hang, cleaning up on the salmon waste that flows out the mouth of the river.) We planned to drop the crab pot in Very Inlet.

It was a beautiful cruise up Very Inlet, through a couple of tidal rapids with small whirlpools. Ducky flew over them like a pro. We dropped the crab pot in 30 feet of water, just out of the main current, but just where crabs could pick up their dinner of stream detritus in a back eddy. It looked like a killer spot. Having set the crab pot, we headed back out to Revillagigedo Channel for salmon!

I took the boat over to the two reefs that extended south from the islands outside of Foggy Bay. It looked fishy there from the Google Earth images I had been looking at all winter. I sliced up some cut plug herring on the alder plank I had picked up for this purpose, baited Dave's herring rig with a new technique I found on You Tube and Dave dropped his line in for a troll. While steering us to a good spot, I started to cut up a herring for me and, before I could finish, Dave has a fish on. We pulled in a nice pink. I cut a herring for a cut plug and rigged the hooks up for Dave. Then I returned to cutting my own herring. Darn! Wouldn't you know it? Dave had another salmon on. I helped him get it in the boat and rigged up another herring for Dave and then for me. One more time, I was beat to the punch. Salmon were feeding on the surface all around us. I wish I had brought a spinning rod to cast for them. Our fishing trip lasted a few hours and in that time we caught 10 salmon, releasing 6 and keeping 4 for our meals. We also saw a humpback whale feeding on the same herring balls as the salmon. He was blowing in the same cove where we were fishing. We returned to the boat, cleaned the salmon, and stuck them in the freezer.

Next, to celebrate the Swiss National Holiday, August 1st. Some time ago, our relative and dear friend, Urs Leu from Schaffhausen, Switzerland, educated us about how the Swiss, and all good Leu's, celebrate our holiday: we get a buzz on with a good Swiss bier, like Falkenbier, raise the Swiss flag and play the Swiss national anthem. Each year, on our boat, we try our best to make the Swiss nation proud of us. This year was no different. We got a nice buzz on with Alaskan Ale, and then raised the Swiss flag and our beers, to honor all good Swiss citizens. The flag flew all day on our mast! I hope Urs is proud of us.


About that time Brian Pemberton of Northwest Explorations was calling on the radio to let us know that he and the other 3 Grand Banks, the group we were going to travel with, where getting close. They arrived and we all shore tied and rafted up together.

Dave and I went out to check the crap pot in the Ducky. We pulled up the pot and found 6 large crabs (and a few huge starfish). They were over 8 inches across at the carapace. We put them in our bucket and dropped the pot back down for a second pull a bit later. We returned back to Change of Latitude victorious. We cleaned the crab, boiled them and gave half to Brian and his wife Carole. The rest we picked for a dish we planned to make. After a few hours we went back to get the pot and found 4 more large crabs. We boiled those, too, and kept them in the fridge for a meal in the next day or two.

That evening, we had a wonderful pot luck appetizer party about Deception, as all of the boats were rafted together.

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Don/Nice and sunny
07/31/2011, Foggy Bay

Our anchorage.

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07/31/2011, To Foggy Bay

A pod of porpoises played in the pressure wave off our bow.

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07/31/2011, Foggy Bay

Dave and Barb went exploring in Rubber Ducky. I think maybe Dave is happy to be in Alaska.

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Don/Clearing
07/31/2011, Foggy Bay

This morning Debbie took some photos of our marina and while she was out, snapped an eagle who had just picked up a salmon. After she got back to the boat, she and Dave handled the line and we left Ketchikan about 7:45. It took us a bit to get our boat sense with all the navigation gear we have. We went south down Tongass Narrows, headed for Foggy Bay. Don turned to the port a bit soon down the Nichols Passage and we tracked back on our path to get to Revillagigedo Channel. We stopped short of Foggy bay, just north, to try fishing for halibut. Don caught two rockfish that we kept for bait. While we were fishing, Dave spotted a humpback blowing near a herring ball. It reminded us of the time in Queen Charlotte Sound when Dave and I were fishing a herring ball and a humpback came up, right underneath our little dinghy and swallowed the entire herring ball up with 5-10 feet of us. We had a laugh at the memory.

We headed around the corner, into Foggy Bay and carefully picked our way through two very narrow and rocky passages to get in. We dropped anchor in 45 feet of water and let our about 250 feet of chain in a mud bottom, very secure.

We let Rubber Ducky down with the davit and Barb and Dave went for an exploratory boat ride, up a tidal rapids and back while Don took a nap. That evening, we grilled brats on the stern and had a wonderful meal while the sun was setting. We even saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes fly by to their nest in some trees. They made a very distinctive sound. After dinner, Dave fished from Change of Latitude, casting a spoon, while I rigged up the rods for a big day of fishing tomorrow. I also got the downrigger out from the flybridge storage and set it up in Rubber Ducky. We were ready for the Summer Salmon tomorrow! (I hope!). And, it is also the Swiss National Holiday, tomorrow, too.

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Don/ Wet
07/30/2011, In Ketchikan

Debbie and I flew to Dallas, then to Seattle, then to Ketchikan where we met Barb and Dave. We spent our first night in a hotel, where I got up very early and completed the edits on the theoretical chapter. Then, we spent the day provisioning the boat, getting everything loaded and stored. We also had to sort out a number of items aboard. Charterers never leave things where we like them to be. I unpacked all the fishing gear and made the aft cabin bed while Debbie, Barb, and Dave went shopping. I also got the refrigerators and freezer going to get cold and filled up the water tanks and put the cover on Rubber Ducky. After loading everything and putting things away, Don and Dave went back to the grocery store for a few final, "man food" items missed on the first trip: beef jerky, licorice, Margarita mix, heavy cream (for chowder), cookies, breakfast strudel, bacon, summer sausages, addition Jiffy Pop popcorn, and other important items the ladies had missed on their trip.

We ordered pizza and had it delivered to the boat for dinner to save time. It was great! I showed Dave the new Furuno navigation system and we plotted our course to Foggy Bay. We plan to leave in the morning and spend an extra day down their looking for the annual summer salmon, halibut, crab, and test our new shrimp pot puller. The other boats will come down the next day.

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