Recap #11 of our Stink Pot Journey 7th- 12th June ’22

Mon Jun 13 2022

Almost caught up!

On the morning of June 7th we launched out from Petersburg, threading our way between a couple of small fishing boats drifting in the current and made out way East to the Frederick Sound where we turned to port and chugged North to Pybus Bay. We anchored in 10 meters, dropped the dinghy into the water and dutifully deployed our crab traps. We tried our hand at jigging for fish using our super cool buzz bomb lures gifted to us by Curtiss and Julie on SV Manna. No luck, and the next morning when we went to collect our crab traps there were only 2 poxy little ones that we had to throw back. On the bright side we did observe a couple of bears frolicking in the meadow, one black and one brown. We think the brown one was a grizzly, but it’s hard to tell at a great distance even with decent binoculars. The local folks just seem to refer to brown bears as “brown bears”. Isabel was excited; she likes bears. From a distance.

Discouraged from the lack of crabbing and fishing success, we tethered the dinghy to the stern and chugged down the long bay to a side bay called Cannery Cove where a fishing lodge hosts folks flown in by seaplanes. We anchored up in the bay and once again deployed our crab traps. We spent some time tooling around the bay with the dinghy as it has a fish finder, with the hopes that we would identify dinner. No luck, so we returned to Sunset and Isabel commenced to jigging from the stern with her trusty buzz bomb lure. Soon she had collected several flat fish suitable for crab trap bait and a couple suitable for dinner. She was stoked, and we enjoyed our first "fresh caught by us” fish dinner.

The following morning (9th of June) I went out alone in the dinghy to check the crab traps and return empty handed, having tossed back two more dinky crabs, one of them female, and the male molting with a very soft shell. Nuts. We determined that Pybus Bay didn’t like us, so we hoisted the dinghy to the sun deck roof then prepared to get underway. We chugged to the West and a bit South to the Chatham Strait where we winkled our way into Red Bluff Bay. Michael on Sea Esta had raved about the place so we figured we’d give it a look. Working our way in through the narrow entrance and channel up to a stunningly beautiful small bay, past so many waterfalls we lost count, we finally tucked in and anchored in about 15 meters of water with good separation to the only other boat in the bay, Gyrfalcon, a beautiful old wooden boat originally built for the US government as an Alaska survey vessel. The couple aboard ran charters on it off and on for years but had elected to give that business up in the name of pleasure. As they noted to us, “we ain’t getting any younger”.

Naturally we deployed our crab traps and tried jigging and even spin casting off the stern. We also deployed the halibut rod, letting the weighted bait rig sit on the bottom. We got skunked, including the crab traps. Not a blasted thing. The upside was we got to see another bear poking around in a big meadow, and we dinghy’d down to a monstrous waterfall. Everywhere we looked we just couldn’t believe how amazing the scenery was, as we were surrounded by big, steep mountains still laden with snow.

The forecast looked a bit icky out in the Chatham Strait so we elected to remain two nights at Red Bluff. While we were there another big charter boat came in as well as a small fishing boat. Saturday morning we arose to prepare for departure, noting the fishing boat already gone. We get up early, around 0430 - 0530 in this environment, and were surprised to see the small boat gone. We downloaded the latest PredictWind weather forecast and determined that while it might still be a bit lumpy out in the Chatham Strait, it should be fine for us as we were planning on going North and the dying wind and associated waves would be on our stern. As we were departing Gyrfalcon hailed us on the VHF and asked for a report once we were in the big water. Leaving the protection of the Red Bluff Bay inlet we encountered 1 - 2 foot seas that rolled us a bit but as soon as we could clear the headland and turn North the ride was comfortable enough. We made our report to Gyrfalcon and pressed on North up the Strait to our next destination on Baranof Island, Warm Springs Bay. Along the way we observed a humpback whale broaching numerous times, then it decided to slap it’s tail against the water so many times we lost count. Stunning!

There’s a small community of private dwellings at the head of the bay, and just a bit before reaching it there’s a nice looking fishing lodge. The borough of Sitka operates and maintains a nice pontoon there with space for quite a few small boats, limited to boats of 65 feet and smaller. Lucky for us there was room at the end of the pontoon so we were able to tie up with our stern away from everyone, a couple of very friendly fellows catching the lines that Isabel tossed. As there’s no electrical power on the pontoon and we have to run our generator to cook and charge the batteries both morning and evening it’s best our noisy and stinky stern faces away from other folks

The most wonderful thing about Baranoff Warm Springs is the little building just a ways up the boardwalk that houses 3 separate lockable rooms, each equipped with a great big livestock watering tub. There’s no charge for the hot tubbing opportunity, and the 2 of us easily fit in a tub facing one another. The hot water flowed in and drained continuously and the temperature was perfect for a 30 - 60 minute soak. A slight smell of sulfur, but so what? We had our first soak of the day, and afterward visited with a fellow who had a home there along with some of the other folks. Interestingly there were 3 C Dory boats there, one with a couple and their 3 little kids. Amazing boats, trailerable, run as fast as the size of the outboard will allow, and apparently suitable for extended holidays on the water. Our pals Jim and Darda Harrison have one and rave about it - finally we can see why.

It cost $30 to tie up to the pontoon for the night, a smokin’ deal considering we were able to walk to the hot tub in about 2 minutes. During the afternoon we donned our bear spray weapons and walked about a half mile, mostly on board walk, to the natural hot springs and on to the lake where a Cessna 180 floatplane was tied to a tree. We had met the pilot on the walk up, and he had commented that his pal in the yellow Super Cub should be there any time. We enjoyed watching the Super Cub land on the lake before wandering back down the trail and inspecting the natural hot springs, pools of water contained by stacked rocks and terrain at the top of the waterfall.

I forgot to mention the waterfall. It’s a monster, not so much in height but in flow rate and it roars constantly in the background, creating about 3 knots of current at the pontoon. It’s a sight to behold! When I asked a local guy if the salmon ran up the falls he noted that any salmon that could swim up that thing could likely kick my ass too.

This morning we got up around 0500 and with coffee mugs in hand we adjourned to the hot tub, our third visit in 2 days. Back in our dirt living days we had that ritual on the weekends, even daring to take our entire coffee pot out to our hot tub. We pondered staying another night but figured we’d dry our skin out if we kept soaking our bods, so about 0645 we were off the pontoon, soon chugging up the Chatham Strait on our way to Sitka.