June 4 - Day 35 Goat Island to Soda Bay

 

June 4 – Day 35   Goat Island to Soda Bay 

 

Raining hard in the early morning.  Moving day, but not too far.  Rain slacked off as we headed out with goal of Soda Bay under damp gray sky but okay water.   Sounds like the guys are talking about doing some fishing this afternoon. 

The sky is clearing or at least brightening as we enter our Soda Bay anchorage.  This bay appears to have some beaches for exploring or at least a walk.  There is also a creek which might prove to be interesting.

 

It started raining again of course, so the hike for today was called off.   But you can fish in the rain so Steve, Michelle, Glen and Dave all went out fishing.  Not catching but fishing.  They came back reporting to much wind, and current to get their bait down to the right depth, and were all soaked.

 

Got an email from Nicole who is currently having fun in the sun in Belize.  Shawn is at home taking care of Nicole’s two dogs, and all the houses.  

 

 

                                                                 Yep another bear!  

Watched an Eagle trying to catch a meal of a small water bird for a while.  The little bird just kept diving under the water every time the Eagle swooped down.  After some time the Eagle gave up and flew off hungry and likely a bit tired.    Not great photos due to distance, but you get the idea.

 

 

 

June 3rd - Day 34 --- Fishhook Bay, Goat Island

 

 

June 3^rd –   Day 34  --- Fishhook Bay, Goat Island

 

Happy Birthday Shawn!   We look forward to your joining us next month.

The rain is back.     

Went for an excursion anyway, two boats this time to try to stay drier.  We went over to the waters outside of Hydaburg to look at the town from afar.   The clan house is definitely completed and looks good from the outside.   The rest of the town looks about the same.  Sad to see the marina with so few boats in it.  Never saw anyone outside, but then it is raining.

 

Totem park at the school in Hydaburg – photo from the boat out in the bay

 

On the way back we spotted a bear on a beach and some wrecked boats on the shoreline.

 

 

For sale – cheap!  What a deal it comes with a tender.

 

 

 

June 2 - Day 33 Coco Harbor toward Hydaburg

June 2 – Day 33    Coco Harbor toward Hydaburg

 

Heading toward Hydaburg today.   Hoping to find some cell/internet access.  The water is smooth and the sky is dry, not sunny but it is clear.

A day to celebrate!

 

Alaskan Dirty Martini

 

YIPPEE - WE HAVE CELL COVERAGE!!!!    There really are other people out there in the world.

 

We have been without cell coverage since May 22^nd.   With coverage we are all doing a bit of ‘business’ or other communications today.  I have a conference call this afternoon which I will be able to make, so I’m happy.

 

Caught these in Coco bay before heading out, not a huge haul but hey, we won’t starve.  All three boats got lucky with about 2 dozen each.

 

We are anchored in what we are calling Fish Hook bay off Goat Island, not far from Hydaburg.  Glen called into Hydaburg to see if they were accepting visitors, but alas they are not.  They are basically in lock down with Covid cases within their community.   

Hydaburg is a small native town which we have been too before and enjoyed visiting with the people, hearing stories about their history and watching them carve totems.   Last time we were here they were working on a new long house which would have been fun to see.   We were hoping that we could visit and support the community.  Glen did have a nice chat with one of the women on the phone and wished them all well.  Glen asked about Hagu the elder who gave us a tour in 2016; he is still there but is apparently not spending as much time in the totem building as he used too.  Everyone is likely pretty much sticking to themselves with this Covid situation.

 

Our anchorage seems well protected and is surrounded by grassy meadows above rocky beaches.

Glen and Steve have gone out to put the prawn pots down again.  – No luck this time.

We are seeing what appear to be a scarcity of Crab and Prawn this year as compared to prior trips.   Not sure what that is all about except we have been in areas where there are Sea Otters.    Even around Hydaburg we did not see any crab or prawn floats in the water, so that means the locals aren’t catching either.

 

 

 

June 1 – Day 32 Coco Harbor Area

June 1 – Day 32 Coco Harbor Area

It's not raining! The sky is overcast and a bit foggy but it is not raining! Prawn pots were put out mid-morning, and then we went exploring the bay that we had originally wanted to stay in but there was a tug and barge anchored in there so we picked another bay. The tug and barge left last night about 10:30pm in the rain.

We found an old logging area, with overgrown roads, so we hiked up the road as far as we could go. This involved crossing small streams and bushwhacking a bit here and there. The hike and a quick look at the small bay behind our boats meant we were gone about 2 ½ hours. The bay behind our boats was surrounded by high hills and was called Windy Cove, likely because the winds would come down the hillsides and blow like crazy in the bay. There were a couple waterfalls which were flowing with force. Glen said that when he was in there yesterday the waterfalls were flowing quite a bit more. All this rain is saturating the ground.

Glen took the 'Gopro' along to try to get a bit of video in case we found anything interesting. For the most part we saw the inside view of the trees and forest. Some of the stumps or cast-off log sections from the logging were quite large in diameter.

When we got back we had a late lunch and then Glen, Steve, and Michelle went out fishing. No fish.

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading etc… it is still not raining. Turned out to be a decent day.



After dinner the rain came back.

Pictures from the days exploration

Windy Cove entrance next to our anchorage – view from the stern

Waterfall inside Windy Cove. According to Glen it had 4 times more water falling yesterday.

Anyone need a new float? This one is very large.

Wet Salmon Berry blossom

Lovers Lane – Steve and Michelle walking in the woods

May 31 - Day 31 Ham Bay to Coco Harbor

 

May 31 – Day 31   Ham Bay to Coco Harbor 

 

It is still raining, enough already!   No one likes to do their mooring lines and anchor duties in the rain, not to mention anything else outside.

We had a lazy morning and headed out about 10:30.   Gray wet sky and fairly calm water.  

We are seeing a lot more waterfalls coming down the hillsides today then we have seen earlier in the Alaska part of the trip.  Must be all the rain over the last couple days.  

It’s raining!

 

 

May 29th - Day 29 It's cold outside

             

 

Another cold day.   Today’s plan is to travel ending in Ham Bay

 

It always makes me wonder how these bays get their name.  Ham Bay?  What did someone serve ham for dinner there once long ago?  

 

Headed out about 9:30 am wouldn’t want to start too early.   The wind was blowing and the water was bouncy.   The weather forecast is for more wind and rough water for the next several days – SE winds growing to 30+ knots and waves from 3 to 8 ft.  Not what any of us want to be out in.  So, we are going to be hunkering down in some protected bay to wait out this storm cycle. 

 

On the way Michelle videoed Bidarka tossing and turning in the waves to show Dave and Jane what they looked like.  Bidarka is narrower and much lighter so it takes the water differently than Nelsea or Magic which are both longer, wider, heavier and have stabilizers.  But in ‘bad’ water all of us pitch and roll.   Nelsea likely had the best ride today. 

During this crossing which by looking at the water photos many would say it wasn’t bad water, both Steve and Glen speed up the engines a bit which also helps a lot; not just in the ride but also in how long one has to endure the seas.  It wasn’t a long run so all was good.  

 

I’ve loaned Jane one of my special seasick bracelets to have for the rest of the trip for these types of days.  When I heard what our day was going to be I put mine on.  Not too far into the cruise I looked back saw Bidarka’s dance and told Glen to call and tell Jane to put on the jewelry.  She did and fared well.    

 

We ended up in Ham Bay.     Anchored and tied to shore.  It was a cold and damp day.  Everyone basically stayed on their own boats, read, worked on blogs, or other ‘work’ projects.   This could be the plan for a few days.   In the afternoon Glen and Steve, the two hard core explorers set out in the Jet boat to explore our surroundings.  They went over to where they’d seen some buildings on the way into the bay, read a sign and ended up talking to some ‘workers’.  Apparently they are prepping for a group of people/workers to come in and thin the trees that they had planted near here, presumably after logging the area.   They also gave us permission to respectfully visit a deserted Indian village site across the bay.  We will do that before leaving the area. 

 

May 25 - Day 25 - Starting up the West side

 

 

May 25 – Day 25 Starting up the West side

 

We left Nichols about 9am.  Today will be about a 30 mile (estimated at 3 hours) up the west side to Pond Bay which will put us back ‘inside’ away from the ocean swells, waves, etc…   The water is not as nice today.  Glen says doable, I say lumpy and not so fun.  It got worse!   After about 15 miles into the trip one of the guys said hey, lets get out of this and move inland.   Something about self-preservation and keeping the ladies happy. 

 

We ended up in Tah Inlet, Pond Bay will wait for another day.  This inlet appears to be a very protected anchorage.  With the weather front coming in we might hold up here for a day or two.  We will reevaluate in the morning.  It is another example of ‘rock water and trees’.  First thing was to brake out the hoses and rinse the salt off the front windows as we’d been taking splashes over the bow. 

Steve and Glen went out fishing in Nellie and came back without any fish.   So, Taco Tuesday was not fish tacos this week.

The girls played cards most of the afternoon in the sun-room/upper deck of Nelsea.  In the time we’ve been in Tah we have seen zero critters, not even a seagull or any kind of bird or critter on the shore or sky overhead.