At 6:30 this (Tuesday) morning the six guests who had gone out after supper last night to set traps for shrimp and Dungeness crab went back to pick up what they had caught. Luckily for all of us, they came back with many crabs that fit the size regulations of those you can harvest. Amber, the talented chef will have them on the dinner table this evening.
For the morning Nate and I went on a kayaking trip that was headed for a waterfall tumbling off a nearby mountain, a result of the snow melt from unusually warm, sunny weather. Halfway there the wind picked up, and Stephanie, our guide, wisely rerouted us into a more protected bay to nose around close to small islands to see what we could find. Earlier today we had watched from the boat as a whale had been thrashing near these same islands, dislodging small sea creatures that it could chow down on, and scratching its back on a dead tree that lay out over the water.
We have a full moon, and so the tide is extremely high, 21 feet, exposing all kind of things that normally stay under water. It is hard to describe how fecund and bizarre a cove is when it has emptied out 21 feet. We found enormous black masses suspended from gigantic kelp that when you got up close to them turned out to be thick strands of hundreds of tiny mussels growing. They terrified Nate.
The kelp can grow a foot a day; by the end of the season it can grow tentacles a hundred feet long. It is much thicker and ropier than kelp in Maine. I was surprised to see large yellow jellyfish in these cold waters, but they are here and are called Lions’ Manes. Apparently they have almost no sting.
Just beyond, in a tight little protected cove, there were curious harbor seals with their heads above water, observing us. We didn’t approach, as the females have had their young and only feed them for six short weeks, so this is a vulnerable time for them.
After we got back to the boat and were eating lunch, Captain Eric hauled anchor and we were underway for a couple of hours. For the last two days we have been just off the Gulf of Alaska in the ABC islands – Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof. Yesterday, underway with the Gulf of Alaska fast disappearing, we could see all three at once. Now we are threading our way further east. This afternoon we turned into Red Bluff Cove, which is astoundingly beautiful. We are moored in a tight harbor with a thousand-foot waterfall behind us.
My afternoon duty was to stay aboard in charge of Will. This went well UNTIL it was time to swaddle him for bedtime. He HATES being swaddled. His face turned from red to purple as he screeched. If looks could kill I would be dead. The more he struggled the harder it became to get it done; I was sweating bullets, but finally I got him to bed, and eventually to sleep.
After dinner six of us, including Nate, went off in the skiff to put down traps for the spot prawns. It was drizzling but quite warm, and the job was quickly done. We had a fast ride back to our hot showers and warm beds.
