Aunt Barb finally showed up a little haggard but ready to go, after an extra day of travel with an unplanned overnight in DC, and a planned overnight in Seattle to get here.
She was under the weather from a cold – maybe she caught it on the way.
She wanted Dungeness crab her first night in, and that’s what we had, with salad. We got the crab on the sockeye trip a week or two ago.
We went to Kasaan and Thorne Bay the first day, as the NW winds were too big to want to fish. It gave Aunt Barb a chance to catch her breath from the trip. In Kasaan, we walked to totem park, where totems from Old Kasaan were moved in 1938–1940, and now there are some newer ones in the mix as well, alongside a long house. As usual, the café was not open. I’ve never seen it open. Just advertised as open.
We got invited to a crab feed at Ellen’s, and after we all ate our fill at dinner, Aunt Barb got introduced to a crab cracking party. All of us around the table cracked the remaining crab and pulled the meat. Fun.
Next day we got out and fished a new spot for me. We couldn’t get to my favorite drag as it was too rough. I’ve never seen a spate of NW wind like we’ve had this week. Beautiful weather otherwise, with sunny days near or above 70 and cool nights in the 50s for great sleeping.
We left town late the next morning and got to our fishing spot a little before low tide. We caught one coho and saw humpbacks.
We got back to town in time for a presentation at the library by a woman who trains dogs to find wolf scat. Aunt Barb is a retired pet groomer from Ithaca, NY, so was eager to go. The scientists learn from the genetics of the scat how the wolves move around the area’s islands. They also learn what they eat – which includes sea otters. After the talk in the library, we walked down near the city beach. Aunt Barb led a group of kids around a grassy area near the beach that had bushes on either side. The trainer gave them some wolf scat to hide, and then brought the dog to find it. The dog does its job – not for a food treat – but to play with her dog toy ball. Wow. More socializing that night out at Kevin and Brynn’s, where we roasted hot dogs around a fire.
The next morning we went fishing again. We caught 5 nice coho, then the bite quit. We went to a favorite anchorage and got in the lee of a little island of pine trees for the overnight. We had fresh salmon for dinner, and salad.
Next morning I got up early as usual. Aunt Barb was sawing logs, so I didn’t get up and get going. The fish seemed to bite a bit before low tide till an hour or two after, so with low tide at midday, we just hung out on anchor for the morning and watched the neighborhood humpbacks. We weighed anchor about 10 am and were fishing by 10:30. Aunt Barb was soon down for the count in the bunk with her cold.
Fishing was really good, and we caught more coho than the day before. When she got up from the bunk mid-afternoon, she was refreshed but still moving slow. I asked if she wanted to anchor for the night or go to town, and she said let’s go to town, so that’s what we did. Fresh salmon again for dinner with salad.
She wanted to go fishing again the next day, and we finally made it to a favorite spot. Along the way, I set the halibut skate at my secret location for the first time this year. I’ve been getting nice chicken halibut regularly this year, so hadn’t needed to set the skate. But the halibut supply is low now after sending fish back to Juneau for the home team with Sara, some to Bob and Laura, and boxes to the Salvation Army crew at the Juneau store.
While the wind had laid down considerably, it was still blowing NW on the drag, with a considerable chop. So, I ran to the west end of the drag, then turned around to troll with the wind. We didn’t catch a thing. When we got near the anchorage, I asked Aunt Barb if she still wanted to go beachcombing, which she mentioned on the way out, and she did. We anchored up, launched the punt, put on the electric motor, and went to shore. She looked for rocks while I looked for other stuff up above the tide line. I discovered yet another nice patch of sea asparagus, which was still in great shape. We picked enough to fill our pockets on the way out.
Another great day of catching up and whales and scenery. Dinner was canned venison burger from the deer Nick harvested right across from where we were beachcombing today. With onions and mushrooms and some of the beach asparagus, with salad.
Sunday was Aunt Barb’s day to pack, do laundry, and shop. We went to the gift store, and Aunt Barb shopped and shopped. I took a tour or two around the store, then went over to Papa’s Pizza and got a good coffee, then settled in on a bench in the shade. It’s in the 70s during the day now, and a little hot for me, but the breeze sure is nice if you’re in it.
We slept in this morning a bit. I cooked a big breakfast of eggs, onion, mushroom, a leftover sausage from the hot dog roast, lots of crab meat, and some of the beach asparagus. We ate our fill on that into the early afternoon. Aunt Barb got packed up, while I packed a box of fish for her, and a little box of the remaining halibut to send to Wendy. After a walk down to the beach and a stop at the library to print out Aunt Barb’s itinerary, we made it to the airport in plenty of time, and off she went. A great week.