WE HAVE FISH!!!!!

Halibut, King, Silvers, and Cod - all caught off 'No Debt'

June 18 - WE HAVE FISH!!!!

The hunters and gatherers went out fishing early in the morning. Glen slept in and read his book all day. Dean and Dave came back first - no fish. Nat and Linda came in with a couple black cod, and one silver. Tom, John, and Steve came back as the champions; one small Halibut, one black cod, and a dozen (yes 12) Silver salmon. Fish dinner tonight!

While the fisherman were out doing their thing, the girls went out for an exploring adventure around the island. Linda J. and Chris in one dink, and Michelle, Elise (guest on Nelsea), and I in another. We barely got around the corner and we spotted a whale. Camera's out we started shooting. Elise had their super long lens and I had my long one (which looked like a midget compared to hers). We saw what we thought was a long thick kelp bed but upon a second look discovered it was really a very large group of sea otters. We played National Geographic Photographer (in training) for quite a while. When the whales (which appeared to be about 4 of them at different times) decided they'd had enough of five crazy ladies in little boats and left the area, we continued around the island and back to the boats. We got some good shots. One whale came up semi close to Chris and Linda and I got a photo of them with behind them. But the highlight was the whale that surfaced 20 feet off our dinghy. Elise and I with long lens had to quickly zoom out; I even leaned way back to try to get far enough away to get photos. It was amazing. Got a couple good shots and some shots that were basically all black (side wall of whale only). During this Michelle was thinking 'Steve's going to kill me if I lose his dinghy'.

The afternoon was filled with watching the guys clean and filet fish. Michelle and Elise cut and vacuum packed fish for the freezers. A large group dinner was served on the upper deck of Nelsea. It was a fish variety pack. Salmon, Halibut, and Lingcod served so everyone got some of each kind of fish. Dinner also included freshly baked Magic Bread, Polenta, Quinoa salad, green salad, vegetables, and sliced potato casserole. Dessert was ice cream with PayDay candy bars cut up on top. Yep, we had another feast.

After dinner some chatting and recapping of the day was done by some while others headed straight to bed. Steve and Glen went out in two dinks to try to find Tom's prize catching shrimp pot which was missing. No luck. That's 2 shrimp pots down for the flotilla, which is bad enough but Tom's was the one that was catching the most shrimp. Some think that we will starve now.

A decision was made to not leave early in the morning but to leave this area in the afternoon letting the fisherman get another day in to fill the freezers. They are fishing on the outside of Noyes Island in the open ocean. Sarah may think that you can see Russia from Wasilla but our guys claim that you can see Japan from Noyes Island.

Barney the Whale --- Yes we named him.

No need for the long lenses as he was about 20 feet off our port. We were in the dinghy.