Alaska Bound: Out and about

Sun. 7/28

Tracy and I were on board at 6:15 or so, and Clifford and his apprentice Teara, had us just relaxing while they worked (not a bad arrangement). We had to fuel up, then get a couple of loads of bait, put them on ice, and we were ready to shove off. It started chilly, and I wondered if I had made the right decision after all to come along. But as the trooper that I am I made the decision to bite the bullet and acquiesce to join the intrepid explorers. And by early afternoon it had warmed up nicely, and with the blue skies and warm sun, I finally settled down and could relax.

So we cruised at a leisurely pace up the Seymour Canal area to Shortfinger Harbor where the first of the crab pots were set. Along the way we were awestruck by the beauty of the Alaskan wilderness, because you want to talk about remote, let me tell you, this is remote. We saw so many whales I actually became bored with watching them (not really, just kidding), they were putting on a show for us, with blowing, and arching their back in preparation for that famous tail flip.

We also watched a friend of Clifford's as he demonstrated (not solely for our benefit) how seine fishing was done. They have this net that they string out from the mother ship by way of a skiff. It is put in a giant loop and when they draw it in the slowly close the bottom of it to trap the unwary fish, much like closing a purse string.

We finally reached our destination for the night, dropped anchor, and settled in for a great lamb dinner, with some fabulous wine provided by Clifford. It was so serene with the glass like water in the channel and the towering mountains all around, that we all turned in relatively early for a good night sleep. we ran into a pod of porpoises that could not let the whales outdo them, they put on an equally fine show, it front of the boat, crisscrossing and jumping out of the water at regular intervals.