Fox Farm Anchorage, Prince William Sound Alaska
We departed Seward on Sat morning, and headed out into the Gulf of Alaska in 15 knot breezes, and calm seas. Several hours out, we spot a couple of large black fins. Soon we found ourselves surrounded by a pod of about 20 Orca whales. Three of the females were swimming in synchronization, a ballet that must be seen and cannot be described. It was a large family group, complete with babies. Seven hours later, we pulled into the first anchorage on our trip home, and what an incredible start it is. What’s left to say about Prince William Sound that hasn’t already been said? It must be one of the Crown Jewels of Alaska, scenic almost beyond description, and teaming with wildlife. We were anchored in 50ft of water, between two islands, totally protected from the seas. Within a couple of hours of our arrival, Janet spotted a Black bear wading across the spit between the two islands. On our left, a Sea Otter with a white head dives only a few feet from the boat.
Salmon are jumping all around us, but I’ve had little luck getting one to jump on my hook. On the other side of the spit a humpback sends large white plumes of breath into the air, visible for miles. Another bear walks the beach attempting to fill his perpetually empty stomach. Several Eagles rest in the trees along the shore. An animal that may be a Martin or a Mink scurries among the rocks at low tide. A deer ambles along the shoreline. The weather has been warm and sunny, quite a change from what we are use to in Juneau. This has to be Alaska at its best. It’s so relaxing here we decided to spend another night.
This morning, we took the dingy out and explored the anchorage. We saw our friend the otter again this morning and decided this must be his home. He was taking an afternoon nap, and floated right by the boat, totally unaware of anything around him. He actually looked like he was snoring, his mouth open wide and his eyes tightly screwed shut. While we are beachcombing, Jeff finds a little pink rubber ducky with a number clearly marked on the bottom. A recent story in the Anchorage Daily News described a shipping container containing thousands of rubber ducks that washed overboard a few years ago. It seems they have been circling the Pacific Ocean and washing up on beaches from California to Alaska ever since. We’ll need the internet before we can solve the mystery of the pink rubber ducky, but they have quite a following. Stay posted…
We are anchored just a couple of miles from where I took customers Halibut fishing several times. I’m thinking I’d like to go out and give it a try again, but we don’t have any room to keep much more. Our big freezer on the boat deck is totally full of fish, and the little freezer in the Lazerette is almost full too. Janet says we should plan to eat a lot of it in the next few weeks. One thing we don’t have is any Ling Cod, so I’m hoping to get one or two, they’re really good eating, and up here they’re huge, minimum keeper size is 35 inches. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Snug Harbor anchorage, Prince William Sound
Snug Harbor is an anchorage that was highly impacted by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Judging from what we have seen though (with the exception of crab), it has made a nice recovery. We arrived two days ago, and dropped the hook in 70ft of water. As it is with so many places in Alaska, the scene is hard to describe. We are in a bowl, surrounded on all sides by towering mountains that rise to 3200ft very close to shore. As we entered we began to see Salmon jumping everywhere. Once anchored, we noticed hundreds of them splashing near shore, so we launched the dingy to investigate. When we got there we could see there were thousands of Pink Salmon schooling in a little cove. The water was black with them, and when disturbed, they would spook and scatter in every direction. Hundreds of fins broke the surface. Still, there was no river for them to run up in this little cove, so it must be around the corner. Sure enough, there was a river, and thousands more Salmon were waiting to swim upstream. In the stream were the gravel beds they had to reach before they could spawn, but there were obstacles along the way.
The first were the Bald Eagles. They were watching from the trees, and when the mood struck them, another Salmon dinner was at hand (or claw as the case may be). But, the Eagles were not the major problem. The stream is fairly narrow where it enters the bay, so the Salmon are very concentrated at this point. Easy pickings for the bears. Judging from how fat they were and how shiny their coats were, they are eating very well. We approached quietly, and watched them fish for almost an hour. The bears only needed a quick romp in the water before another Salmon had failed to make the final run. Between Salmon they would laze around on the shore, but it wasn’t long before they were in the mood for another, and another, and another. The bears were aware of us, but were so busy gorging on Salmon they paid scant attention to us. Surrounding the bears on all sides were the Gulls, noisily squawking while waiting for whatever scraps they could get. Apparently, they are good friends, as Janet saw one Seagull touch its beak to the bear’s nose. After taking about 100 photos, it was time to explore the coast.
We took the dingy as far out to sea as we dared, hoping to get a cell signal to call sister Lorie as it was her birthday, but alas, no signal. We are truly remote here. This cove is alive with wildlife. Dahl’s Porpoise cavort at the entrance, Otters float lazily by, Eagles are everywhere, Bears roam the shore and Salmon fill the bay. During our explorations, we saw a group of female Harlequin ducks. It’s the Nature Channel live and in person. Our little bay is home for now, as there is a storm brewing with 17ft seas forecast on the outside, and winds beginning to gust around the boat. Hopefully, tomorrow we will be able to move on. Still, what a grand place to be hanging out in. Wish you were all here. But then again, we’d need a bigger boat…
1930hrs
A bigger boat? How about a bigger anchor? Winds are up to storm force, 48knots. The boat is slewing wildly from side to side, as gusts knock it about. This boat has a lot of windage, and is truly testing the anchor, which so far is holding well. It’s a Delta Fast Set, sized for a bigger boat, and is set with 340ft of 3/8th chain and two snubbers led to cleats port and starboard. There is little more that can be done other than to hope it holds through the night.
August 4 1000hrs
What a wild ride it was, winds peaked at 65mph about 0230hrs. It was a pretty sleepless night due to the noise, and the sometimes violent motion of the boat as the winds threw the boat on its side many times, but the anchor held, the snubber lines didn’t chafe through, and all is well other than a little sleep depravation. Now we need to plan our escape across the Gulf. The Weather service is forecasting a possible window on Tuesday, so we need to be positioned near the exit from the Gulf, a days travel from here.
Our trip North in the spring was straight across the gulf for 52hrs. At that time we had a third crew member, and stood watches of 4hrs on, and 8 off. On our way home, it was just Janet and I, so we chose to anchor at night. It took us a week to make our way back to Juneau, and we had a great time. Were now getting ready to head South to Anacortes for the winter.
