Alaska 2014 - On To Sitka

June 6, 2014 – Continued

As we headed out of Petersburg at 0725 we waved goodbye to the Krogenites on the dock and quickly cleared the entrance buoy at the north end of Wrangell Narrows.  Frederick Sound was a millpond, with no wind and sunny skies so we opened up the flybridge and drove Spirit from there.  Aside from a few small fishing boats close to the shore there was little marine traffic.  Cell phone coverage stops quickly and by the time we reached Sukoi Islets coverage had disappeared.

Just past Portage Bay we encountered our first good Humpback whale sighting in Alaska this year and managed to get some a few good tail photos.  Continuing down Frederick Sound past the lower end of Stephens Passage we had several encounters with Dall’s porpoises.

The Devil's Thumb leaving Petersburg

Humpback in Frederick Sound

Sea Otters are cute, but destroy the crabbing

We began picking up cell phone coverage as we passed the town of Kake and coverage continued until we entered Warm Springs Bay, where Baranof Hot Springs is located.  The public dock did not have enough space for us, so we anchored in the south inlet where we were treated to 2 different brown bears foraging on the beach.  The anchor was set in 90 feet of water at 1800 after a 75 nautical mile day.  The bottom in this inlet is hard, so we have had issues in the past getting a good set, but not this time.

Brown Bear out for breakfast in Warm Springs Bay

The inlet has such steep sides that the GPS occasionally lost lock, as well as the TV satellite dish.  We are at the northern most limits of coverage with this unit, so it has now been turned off.  We still have our DVD movie collection, if we ever find the time to sit down and watch one.

June 7, 2014

As predicted, the rain began shortly after midnight, but with no wind the anchorage remained secure.  It starts getting light before 0300, so with light coming in the cabin windows it can be hard to sleep.  We pulled the anchor up at 0622 and headed out of Warm Springs Bay, intending to fish.  However, 2 large sea lions had also decided to fish in the same location so we just kept going.  The visibility in Chatham Strait was initially less than ½ mile, but within a couple of hours had increased to several miles.  We altered course several times for Humpback whales feeding on the surface directly ahead of the bow.

Taking a small shortcut through Thatcher Channel, which cuts over a mile off the entry into Peril Strait we ran into more rain and fog.  The wind, which was from the SE in Chatham Strait, bounces off the hills on Chichagof Island and changes direction by almost 180 degrees.  We entered Saook Inlet with a 10 knot breeze behind us from the northwest, with a 1 foot chop.  Anchoring in 100 feet of water off the end of the inlet, in a good mud bottom, we had only travelled 37 nautical miles, for a grand total of 940 nautical miles.  Most cruising guides do not recommend Saook Inlet, but only because of the deep water anchorage and the steep shelf on the delta at the head of the inlet.  Many cruisers are not comfortable, nor have the length of anchor rode to safely anchor here.  Today we are the only boat in Saook Inlet.  Patrick set two crab traps, and when we checked them 4 hours later, had to pick the six largest crabs from the 24 legal sized male crabs in the two pots. 

The non-resident limit this year is three crabs per person per day, with the possession limit equal to the bag limit.  We had no sooner brought the pots back to Spirit when the Alaska State Wildlife Police showed up in their large RIB and boarded us to check our licenses and the number and size of crab.  Fortunately, everything was in order and after a nice chat they motored out of the inlet.  After the troopers left we cooked the crab and then made crab cakes with some of the crab and froze the rest.  The rain continued, heavy at times, all night.

June 8, 2014

Checking the two pots the next morning we realized we should have only set one pot.  We kept the six largest crab and returned 20 back to their home in the inlet.  After cooking the crab we pulled up the anchor at 0800 in rain and fog, sunshine and rainbows and continued through Peril Strait riding a modest ebb tide through Sergius Narrows to our destination, Kalinin Bay on the north end of Kruzof Island.  By 1300 the anchor was down in 25 feet of water and after lunch we headed out for our first salmon fishing expedition in Alaska.  Alas, the fish ignored our bait, while we worked through the logistics of a new boat and downriggers, so we returned at 1900 empty handed.  Talking to one of the other boats anchored in the bay we discovered that fishing has been spotty for everyone in this area, the fish are still mostly offshore.

June 9, 2014

We headed out for the shark hole outside of Kalinin Bay at 0530 in rain.  A blown fuse on one of the downriggers cut the morning short, and we had no action with the identical rig and technique that had proved successful in the past.  We spent the afternoon watching eagles fish in the bay.

Eagles Fishing in Kalinin Bay

Brown Bears in Kalinin Bay

June 10, 2014

We did not get underway for fishing until 0600, and hoped for the best when we had our first salmon hooked on the gear.  Unfortunately, the fish was too small and was released.  We had two more fish on that escaped our grasp while reeling them in, but did catch 7 sea bass.  Six of the sea bass were big enough to convert into fish tacos at some later date, so we finally called it quits and returned to Kalinin Bay and filleted the sea bass.  That afternoon we headed for a halibut fishing spot at high slack tide and in just a few minutes had landed a small 13 pound halibut.  Putting the line back in the water, no more than 5 minutes later we had hooked another fish, this time taking quite a while to get to the side of the Grady White.  The halibut was too large to safely get into the boat until nearly dead, so our friends from “Jericho”, who were guiding us to the fishing spot in their tender, came over with their halibut harpoon (we had left ours on Spirit) and speared the fish, passing us the harpoon line.  We spent the next 45 minutes getting the 38 pound halibut on board, since leaving the water was not on the fish’s wish list.  Returning to Kalinin Bay we spent the next several hours filleting and vacuum packing the fish.  We finally set ourselves down to celebrate 42 years of marriage with a fresh halibut dinner.

The halibut is harpooned

Patrick with the 38 pound halibut

June 11, 2014

At the relatively late hour of 0700 we pulled the anchor from the mud of Kalinin Bay and carefully headed out the channel on a -1.1 foot tide, avoiding the rock in mid channel which has only 5 feet of water, whereas we need 6 feet.  By 1045 we were docked in Eliason Harbor, having covered 992 nautical miles on Spirit since Anacortes.

We have some maintenance to perform, and will fish from the Grady White for the next several days before heading back out to somewhere close to Sitka and continue our hunt for the King Salmon.  The weather is predicted to deteriorate for a few days, with small craft warnings through Thursday evening and seas increasing to 11 feet offshore by Saturday AM.