NO 6:30 a.m. shrimping, crabbing or kayaking this (Thursday) morning, as we are underway for Mole Harbor on Admiralty Island. All was quiet until 8:00 a.m., everyone sleeping in as it was also chilly, raining and foggy.
By the time my group went off to go fly fishing it had mostly stopped raining. I borrowed waders and boots from the boat, and after we got off the skiff we tramped over acres of kelp, seaweed, mussels and clamshells at low tide to get to the mouth of the river.
With Randy and J.J. as our teachers we got the hang of it pretty quickly. The sound I love most in the world is running water, so for me, standing knee-deep in water for a couple of hours playing with a rod is pure heaven.
Randy caught a Dolly Varden (a type of Arctic char) that was too small to keep, and he got another nibble, but nothing else to report for the rest of us. We had three children along and all of us enjoyed the morning despite coming up short. I would love to do it again, and Randy has promised to take us on the Green River to camp and fish.
We were underway again at lunchtime, headed for the awesome scenery of glacier country. I took part of the afternoon duty with Will, and after many turns with Fred or me pushing his baby carriage around the deck, I took him to the fantail to watch fish printing on shirts. Children and grandparents took turns painting one of two dead fish and then pressing the fish onto white t-shirts. It turns out we have several artists on board, and they did themselves proud.
I sang every tune that came into my head while keeping rhythm with Will’s hands to distract him from his hunger pangs while his mother painted her fish. When I could think of no more songs, Alice and I sang “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,” which went down well until we tried some harmony, at which point Will wailed!