Whale BubbleNet feeding

My friend, Suzi, on the s/v Boru took this wonderful shot! Wish I could claim it, but I did get the same shot on video. Just part of our wonderful trip.

More about our cruise in Alaskan waters

As we traveled on towards Ell Cove, we were treated to our secod viewing of bubblenet feeding by humpback whales. I got video shots and Suzie got an excellent still shot - National Geographic quality. About a dozen whales treated us to quite a show.
In tiny Ell Cove we found ourselves with 6 other boats; DX and Boru rafted to us and Gale, Silent Sun, Perigee, and Sea Tex all free anchored.
The next day we made the short trip down to beautiful Takatz Bay where Mercy and Boru rafted alongside. At low tide a crab pot buoy appeared rather close behind our boats. Since it was a hazard to navigation, we pulled it, straightened out the tangled line and reset it, but not before we took the 30-some legal crab and divided them between the boats.
Baranof Warm Springs was our next stop. Finding the docks full we rafted onto Mercy and Boru to DX. That evenig we had a great get together, eats and drinks on Mercy. They are the only boat in our group big enough to hold 12 comfortably. We showed our whale video among ooohs and aaahs and promised to make a DVD for everyone if we ever get our computer back. Larry and Sandy, Mercy's Texas guests left on a float plane that had some difficulty getting in and out due to the fog.
We moved to the outside of the dock after some boats including Mercy moved on. The new bathhouse was much appreciated and much used. The water is pretty hot and had some sulphur smell, but we enjoyed the bath anyway.
7-23 Mercy left Red Bluff Bay as we came in. Dx was out pulling his prawn trap. When he told us that he got nada, zip, zero we decided not to put ours down. DX came back in the bay and rafted to us along with Boru. Other boats included: Jamal, Alaskan Song, Nereida, Silent Sun, Sea Call, Snow Goose and Alaskan Story.
The bay was filled with pinks that were jumping and turning like ballerina dancers. They made me laugh when I thought of them as popcorn fish. All the fishermen had a great time catching and releasing.
Boru had an overheating problem, so they had to run slower across a very well mannered Chatham Strait to Honeydew Cove where we found Passage already anchored.

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Back in the USA

After making a somewhat hurried trip down through Canada, we just wanted to let you know that we are still alive and still floating. We checked into customs at Roche Harbor, San Juan Island, WA on Saturday, August 3rd. We were glad to be back in "home waters" again and especially have enjoyed the nice weather. Bob has been getting some of the varnish work done that he was unable to do in the rain up north.
We will be going back into our slip in Anacortes in another week or two. Today we are anxiously waiting to welcome s/v Boru alongside again. They are heading back to Olympia and are crossing into US waters today.
I still plan to write more about our adventures up north, but thought I better at least get a quick update out.

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Freezer client

Friends Gail and Nick on s/v Destiny stored halibut in our freezer, but after that our paths diverged. Since we didn't know when or if we would meet up again, we transferred their fish to the m/v Passage. These tongue-in-cheek emails resulted... ;-)

Dear Sir, Madam and Mascots:

It has come to our attention that our fillet account which was entrusted to your institution has been transferred to another account without our authorization. Further more we believe the status of said fillets may be endangered due to illegal pilfering by untrustworthy freezer operators. It is commonly held that the M/V Passage has a past history of unsecure fillet handling. Specifically, we are worried about the possibility that our fillets could be exposed to fire. M/V Passage has been known to remove banked fillets and place then near or on a BBQ. In addition, we have received no statement of our account while banked at your institution. We were hoping that the account would have earned some interest while in your care (even bottom fish deserve interest). We are also concerned that our entire account may be frozen - thus limiting our ability to liquidate same.

Dear Valued Customer:
We would like to assure you that we would not have transferred said fillets unless we were certain that they would be safe with the current freezer operator. About the interest incurred: we must remind you that this was not a savings account that earns interest, rather we have fees associated with your account that have been left unpaid. We accept legal tender, meals, salmon fillets, dominoe games and various and sundry other items as payment for said fees. Again, we want to assure you that you are a valued customer and we would welcome your deposits after our fees have been met. We are only slightly concerned that we will not meet up with you again to settle this matter as you seem to be traveling in areas where our "chicken of the sea" crew does not intend to go. We are also concerned about your mental health as the fish stories you tell are quite the works of fiction.

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