Day 25 ~ Portage Bay to Cannery Cove in Pybus Bay

All was extremely quiet on the Simbalaut until about 9:00. We retrieved the crab pots before our departure. We had several crabs but only one really nice keeper. Once we had the anchor up, we wiggled and twisted the boat and our ‘shake’ was successful at knocking whatever was fouling the generator intake.  By noon we were out of the bay and heading North up Frederick Sound weaving our way through lots of trash.

For breakfast Wendy suggested and Dad agreed that since they weren’t driving that a Bloody Mary was in order. Shortly thereafter we spotted two boats halibut fishing and decided a deviation in our float plan was a good idea and stopped to fish. Fifteen minutes later, we had a 5 pound true cod in the cooler with the crab. Dinner was already looking better. We caught enough halibut for dinner but Dad didn’t get to shoot his gun!  Proud of our haul and our pending dinner we pulled up and headed toward Cannery Cove. Along the way we fixed lunch. One day on the boat and Bloody Mary’s were for breakfast and bologna sandwiches were for lunch, good thing we had a healthy dinner planned.

From the time we got back underway until the sun went down we had a National Geographic adventure. We first spotted several whales both Orca and humpback. The humpbacks were cruising side by side until they sounded, pushing their magnificent tails high in the air. Soon, to be followed by the dancing Orca that completely breeched.

As we approached Brother’s Islands we became very aware of a massive colony of sea lions on West Brothers Island. Dad spun the boat around and I went out on the pulpit and took lots of pictures and video. We tried to count them and at best guess we think there were 250 of them in varying colors, shapes and sizes, including some massive bulls. Some of them were playing in the water but most of them were enjoying the sunshine with a nap. It was interesting that they would make all kinds of noise ‘barking’ and then go back to sleep. As we departed we noticed two web cams in the trees.

When we got on anchor Dad sent us off to catch some more fish while he cleaned the ones in the cooler. Around the cove we found a beach full of big eagles eating, we counted 33. Some still didn’t have their white heads. They were feasting on salmon scraps from the lodge across the bay. I tried to get Wendy to drive the dinghy closer so I could get some better pictures but she was concerned that they were going to attack us.

Thanks to the sea we had a wonderful dinner, updated our blog and did a high level, subject to change….plan, which by the way includes a run to Kake to get vodka. We made a huge technical error by only buying one bottle of vodka for 10 days…what were we thinking?