Part VIII - Juneau to Flynn Cove

June 25, Funter Bay, Admiralty Island

Heading north from Auke Bay we observed a large group of boats in Saginaw Channel.  Initially we assumed they were fishing and psyched ourselves up to try our luck.  As we approached, however, we discovered that there were seven whale watching boats full of tourists observing a group of 8 – 10 humpbacks.  We watched for a little while then left in disgust at how the whale watching boats were chasing the whales.  I had to make an emergency radio call to the largest boat because the captain was so intent on chasing whales that he turned into Hobbit from about 100 feet without looking.

After rounding the north end of Admiralty Island we turned south and were passed by a pod of Orca.  Shortly thereafter we encountered another large group of humpback whales.  For the night we tied up to a state owned public dock in Funter Bay.  The tide was quite low and the dock was close to shore.  This combination afforded me the opportunity to check the accuracy of my depth sounder by dropping a fishing lure over the side then measuring how much line was out.  The sounder correctly showed that there was 12 feet of water under Hobbit’s keel.

Four spouts at once

June 26 Flynn Cove, Chichagof Island

Shortly after waking there was a minus 4.3 foot tide.  Linda could see clams spurting in abundance and urged Cash and me to collect some.  Clams were probably the densest I have ever seen, and we quickly filled a 5 gallon bucket.  The area also has one of the largest beds of eel grass I have seen

Minus 4.3 foot tide in Funter Bay

On our way to Flynn Cove, we decided to try our luck halibut fishing just south of Couverden Island.  After catching two large rockfish we decided to abandon the halibut and try salmon fishing.  We fairly quickly had one on which got off before we could net it.  I was ready to net a second one when it was grabbed right beside the boat by a sea lion.  Cash fought and yelled at it for probably 30 seconds before the sea lion prevailed and ripped the fish off the hook.  A third salmon (10 pounds) was finally netted.  We tried to continue fishing but a sea lion took up position about 50 feet behind Hobbit and stayed there while we trolled.  Realizing that any fish we hooked would be taken by the sea lion, we abandoned fishing and headed to Flynn Cove for the night.

Happy camper!!

Nemesis the sea lion