I cannot tell you the beauty of the emerald green water up here below the massive snow covered peaks and hillsides packed full of greenery. The sun is out and shimmering on this scene. We got out of the fog and rain of Craig, about 80 miles south, and started making our way up to Petersberg. Our first night we stopped for a striking fishing adventure at “Hole in the Wall”. Our mothership, Anchor W, tows a little Eagle Craft welded fishing boat that we can take out. So we anchored up at a place called Hole in the Wall and took the boat for a go. Brook, the first mate, has a friend that is familiar with the area and told us about all the fish here. The second we pulled in the boys were off to give it a go. With the sun setting I decided for a puzzle instead. When they came back they had the biggest fish I have ever seen! This King Salmon was so fat it was hard to pick up. A 45lb fish along with a few nice silvers, or Coho. We celebrated with some music and a fish cleaning party. Just us in the middle of nowhere, it is a pretty cool experience. Besides our hangovers we were excited to get back out there that next morning. Brook, Captain Rob and I headed out. Just a few miles from the open ocean we were among commercial trollers/sainters and 30-40 sport boats all on the Coho (Silver) and King Salmon run. Almost at our limits and out of bait we headed in with a good load. 3 Kings and about 10 Silvers. Remember that you have to clean what you catch so we were okay with not getting more. That was only one day, the rest of the time we have been bringing in a few here and a few there along with Dungeness crab.
THE KING!
Coho Salmon
Captain Rob and his catch
Crab Cleaning, Onward to Petersburg
There really hasn’t been much else to do and we are just waiting for some more guests to get up here on the boat. Craig was pretty boring, but the most action we had seen in a while. Besides fishing we rented movies, went to the community pool, did some food shopping, and even got to go for a drive to some local rivers to do some fly fishing. We have been pretty lucky as crew, but this doesn’t always happen on other boats. An easy season to soak in.
Jordan in the Galley, Crab Feast
After hole in the wall we stopped back in to see our new good friends at El Capitan Fishing Lodge. The family there is so hospitiple and has all of the right amenities, darts, pool, and libations. I am sure that you heard about Senetar Stevens fatal Otter Plane crash. Every year he had a group of people to this lodge and was supposed to be coming in that very next day. It was very sad to be directly related to the incident and the mood at the lodge was pretty gray. They felt as though they lost a friend and a very good man. The money from that week will be donated by the lodge to a fund for the accident.
Sunset over Sarkar Cove, El Capitan Fishing Lodge
Here in these islands the tides can be pretty extreme. When you are navigating your way through you have to have a good idea where the water is moving. If you are in a narrow enough passage and the water is moving against you it is almost like you are going uphill or up a river, if the tide is ebbing then it is the opposite, you are being pushed. The currents are strong and some of the water can be treacherous if you don’t pay attention. Once we had high tide that next morning we pulled our anchor and made our way north through the El Capitan passage. Being such a big boat and towing we wanted to have as much water as possible. The narrowest part of the passage was only about 40 feet. They had dug it out to make it passable. With not a soul in sight, except for your friendly little sea lion we made our way through, navigating the channel markers, and the crystal clear water. The sun was shining and I felt like I was in heaven. There were huge mountains coming out of the horizon and a change of scenery to where we had been venturing the last couple of weeks.
Narrow El Capitan Passage
El Capitan Passage Wilderness
Petersburg is a relief to be at. It is a darling little Norweigen fishing village. I really think they have always had great planning and building, this town was done right. It is really small but has a great feel to it. We have views of Glaciers and wild peaks. One in particular is called the Devils thumb, a spire rising up to about 10,000 ft….I’m guessing. The sun sets right over the mountains and ends everyday with a blessing. There is a large fish processing plant here, which brings in a lot of fishing boats and keeps this economy going. I have been talking to a couple of the fishing boats and learning a little bit about the business. Last night we pulled in behind a huge crabber that you would see on the Deadliest catch, the Nordic Express. They are only crabbing in the winter so they use their summers to be a hub for the fishing boats out in the hot spots. They will go out and anchor and boats will come and offload to them so they can keep fishing. He had thousands of pounds of salmon iced down ready to offload. It was a big boat drawing about 16 feet, im not really sure of the length, 200 feet.
So, I will just be here for the next little while, scronging the local shops, and trying to make it to the mountains for a nice little hike. We did a big washdown on the inside and outside of the boat today so we are good to sit until we need to. We will also be fishing for halibut and maybe some prawns for a change. There is also a huge glacier here that we might adventure too. I am thankful I can take this whole experience in. Guests or not, the adventure would be the same. Where else can the scenery out your window change almost daily? Wrap your head around that. I just looked out and saw a bald eagle....
Sea Otter Wave
Marble Pools
