24-25May10 Neka Bay (58'03.089N, 135'39.833W)

We left Auke Bay and headed to a favorite spot of ours in the back of Port Frederick, or as some call it, Hoonah Sound. Weather was absolutely calm and clear, and the crabbing was extraordinary. I put down one pot and came up with twice my allowable daily limit of huge male Dungeness crabs. Four of them were monsters.

We set up a propane burner out on the swim platform and a huge pot to steam the crab without steaming up the boat. Worked great, and we ate freshly caught and steamed crab in butter until it came out our ears, but we barely made a dent in the pile. So we spent the next hour or so busily cracking and picking the meat out of the rest so we could freeze it. We have three more meals worth. An embarrassment of riches.

One other boat came in tonight, the 25th, a sailboat from Palmer, AK, otherwise we've been alone back here with a grizzly sow and her two cubs, one of them almost grown (last year's cub I presume) and a new one from this Spring. Not sure how common that is, but the big cub stayed right with mom while the baby kept wandering off.

The griz, of course, appeared on the same beach that I take Kermodei ashore on for his daily exercise, but that's manageable. The bears are out in the morning and evening, and I take Kermodei ashore on the rising tide in late morning to noon while the bears are snoozing (or so I hope). So far, so good. You don't mess with a momma grizzly and two cubs.

I carry a shotgun loaded with slugs when ashore, along with an air horn that I honk once in a while just to let the bears know I'm there. Debbie sits on the flybridge on bear watch. If she sees any bears approaching us, she will honk the boat horn and Kermodei and I will skedaddle back to the dink and take off. At least that's the plan. The shotgun is strictly a last resort, as I don't want to shoot anything, but if its the bear or Kermodei or me, the bear gets it. Top of the food chain, baby.