Alaska 2014 Sitka Interlude Two

June 25, 2014

This was a maintenance day in Sitka, changing the oil on the generator, cleaning the watermaker plankton and pre-filters, doing laundry and cleaning Spirit in anticipation of Weedman’s arrival.  Somehow the entire day just slipped away until afternoon, when Alex Benson arrived back in Sitka with his college friends, and later Mike & Susie Miner on the Selene 50 “Seeker”.

We had an informal potluck dinner on Spirit, with halibut chowder made from the scraps from the 56 pound halibut the day before, supplemented by adding smoked salmon and bacon to the chowder, salad and fresh baked sourdough bread.  Steve Oberto from “Maximo” joined us, so we had nine people crowded around the table in the salon, serving the chowder in abalone shell bowls made by one of Alex Benson’s college friends.

June 26, 2014

The Sitka harbormaster moved us to a different dock in Old Thomsen Harbor about noon, just behind “Josie”, a Selene 53 which moors on the same dock as “Spirit” in Anacortes when not cruising during the summer.  Jill and Vaughn Weedman arrived right on schedule at 1800.  After unpacking bags and delivering spare parts for Spirit we grilled some steaks on the barbeque and prepared for fishing the next morning.

The bald eagles provide constant entertainment

Looking for food

And finding it on the cleaning dock

June 27, 2014

Spirit slipped the mooring lines at 0510, leaving the Grady White in the slip.  We headed out to Viskari Rocks to try our luck fishing, but the southwest swell was running to 12 feet and we had no luck.  Our guests were still developing their sea legs, so we headed over to Biorka Island, which is in the lee of the swells.  The water was nearly flat calm, and we soon had 5 King salmon and 2 Coho salmon in the cooler.

Returning the 13 miles back to Sitka harbor, we cleaned the boat and met Alex and Pat Benson and Mike and Susie Miner for dinner at Agave Mexican restaurant before attending the grand finale concert of the Sitka Music Festival.  After a great concert we re-connected with the members of the Cypress String Quartet, who had performed that evening.  Making arrangements to take them fishing on in the morning, we decided that Miriam would join the string quartet and other performers on “Wild Blue”, taking over driving the boat while Alex helped the musician’s fish, while Patrick would take Vaughn and Jill Weedman fishing on “Spirit”, with Jill driving “Spirit” while Patrick & Vaughn fished.  Complicated, but it worked!

June 28, 2014

Spirit left the dock at 0500 and headed directly for Biorka Island.  Arriving at the fishing location at 0630, downriggers were deployed and fishing lines were put in the water.  By 0730 we had 3 King salmon in the boat.  By noon we had 6 King salmon and called it a day, since we had reached our daily King Salmon allotment.

Weedman's with King Salmon

Returning to the dock at 1440 we rinsed the salt from the boat and headed to The Channel Club for dinner.  Although the food was good, the service was not due to the number of people in the restaurant at the time.

June 29, 2015

The weather was relatively calm so Patrick and Vaughn took the Grady White fishing.  After a late start (0930) and getting nearly to Biorka Island they discovered they had left the bait in the freezer on Spirit, so they returned to Sitka.  Finally getting to Biorka Island at 1130 they discovered fishing was very slow, so they headed three miles offshore to Biorka Reef to try for halibut.  There was a moderate SW swell at 6 feet.  Finding a likely halibut hill the jigs were deployed.  Patrick thought they had a bite on one rig, but it turned out they  had snagged the bottom and the Grady White was anchored.  While unsuccessfully trying to get free they snapped the line and broke the rod in half.  Meanwhile, a Yelloweye Rockfish, also known as a Red Snapper had hooked up on the other jig.  Patrick reeled in a nice Yelloweye.  Heading back inshore Patrick & Vaughn decided to try one last time for salmon and picked up a nice King salmon.  Heading back the 13 miles to Sitka in increasingly rough seas, our friend the rain returned in a deluge.  The seas were rough enough that the VHF antenna mount on the Grady White failed, breaking the welded bracket.

Returning to Sitka Harbor the scenery is superb even in the rain!

Dinner turned out to be fresh Yelloweye and mushroom risotto, preceded by spot prawns. Everyone was tired from the day’s activities, so the attempt to watch a movie was unsuccessful, with everyone falling asleep.

June 30, 2014

This was the last chance for the Weedman’s to catch more fish, to we slipped the mooring lines once again at 0500 and Spirit headed for Biorka Island.  When we arrived at Biorka Island we were concerned over the weather, with the wind steady at 21 knots, gusting to 30 knots, and a moderate chop, even though we were out of the main swell.  The wind pressure on Spirit was enough to provide ideal trolling speeds just by drifting.   By 0630 our lines were in the water and by 0705 we had 3 King salmon in the cooler.  The fishing slowed down slightly and we released 2 small King salmon before landing 2 more legal King Salmon.  The Weedman’s had caught their annual non-resident limit of King salmon.  We finally released another small King before heading back to Sitka.  Spirit arrived at 1105 in the morning in light rain, which had started on our return.  The balance of the day was spent shopping, replacing fishing tackle, lunch at the Bayview Pub and then a gala dinner on Maximo with the Oberto’s.

July 1, 2014

Since we were not fishing today, everyone slept in and then Patrick cooked his traditional biscuits and sausage gravy for a hearty breakfast before Vaughn and Jill departed for the airport at 1130.  Patrick and Miriam spent the balance of the day repairing the broken VHF antenna on the Grady White, installing the satellite phone external antenna and doing laundry.

By early evening some Sitka residents were already setting off fireworks in anticipation of a noisy 4^th of July.  It sounded like a war zone for a while with the blasts for the aerial fireworks.  The movie we had tried to watch several days before was finally watched to completion.