Chichakof and Baranof

We left Tenakee on calm water on July 13th and made the short trip up to Pavlof where we anchored. Much to our chagrin we have spent 44 nights tied to docks and 2 nights on a buoy since we entered Alaska 52 days ago. This is not our usual M/O, but gen set problems, weather, and Alaska's free state docks have limited our time on the anchor chain.
But finally we were swinging on our own hook in Pavlof. Sherry on Augenblick had told us via radio that it was a delightful place with bear sightings and halibut catching. Sure enough, Bob went out in the dinghy and caught his 2 halibut easily, both chickens. A pod of Orca's came very close to him while he was fishing, but they were intent on their own fishing as their tall black fins sliced through the water nearby. These are the first Killer Whales we've seen in Alaska on this trip.
While we were eating dinner, I heard a change in the sound of the generator. Upon checking the exhaust we found only steam exiting. When we checked the filter we found it filled with jellyfish parts and pieces. These are the lion mane jellyfish that can sting, so we extracted the slimy mess being careful not to touch it with bare hands.
After a couple of boats left we moved in closer to be more protected in case the wind blew.
We saw a doe and fawn on shore and later a single doe. Bob caught his limit of 2 halibut again. One was a 3 ft 21 lber. Just a poind over chicken-size.
We were seeing lots of wildlife on the shore. To our surprise we saw two men walking on the far shore with no vessel in sight. We surmised that they were from the sailing vessel (umiak maybe) that we had seen pass by late last night.
Later we saw a grizzly sow (brown bear) with twin, black cubs walking in the same place where we had seen the men earlier. These mamas with cubs are very dangerous and should always be avoided, but we had to get them recorded on video so we can bore you all with it later. We dinghied in for a closer look. The sow got very nervous when she saw us and soon hustled her babes off into the woods.
The other wildlife brought their vessel into the bay and anchored for the night on the far shore. They made us nervous, too.

------------------------------
Sent via PocketMail
Email Anywhere
www.pocketmail.com