|
A Fishing Story - 1989 the f/v My Colleen
by C. C. Crow photos by author
At the top of The Inside Passage we stop for a few days in
Glacier Bay. Les has been pushing to get to Cook Inlet in ten days to make it to
the first opening but realizes that even if we sail day and night we won't make
it in time. So it's time to go on vacation!
Glacier Bay
The dock at Bartlett Cove serves the ranger station
Les enters the ranger station
This is a special place
Les finally relaxes!
Seen one glacier, seen them all...
|
6-21 WED
Summer Solstice. I wake for a moment around three thirty, it's
light out and high tide. Now as I write this at 11 p.m. it is
still light out. Les woke early and we were underway by 7. It's
slow going. I sleep in a little but Lori and Rob are bunk rats. I
cook breakfast and wash dishes, then sit by the wheel. As we
approach Glacier Bay we see more whales. We go into Bartlett Cove
and check in a day early with Elicia, then head into the park
seeing more whales. We go up Muir Inlet to the end. The scenery is
more than spectacular, Muir Glacier has receded greatly since 1960
and the inlet's walls are noticeably scoured clean. At the end of
the canyon the glacier hides, small icebergs clutter the bay. We
stop a half mile off and eat sloppy Joes. We run back and anchor
for the night at N. Sandy Bay, bear country. Les believes he has
miss estimated the fuel and thinks we don't have enough to run up
the other arm as we intended. It will cost fifty miles to return
to fuel up. Yesterday I consulted him with my feelings that he has
been pushing the entire trip- contrary to what we had been saying
all winter while we were building the boat, that we would have
three full weeks, to relax and take our time, see Sitka, Glacier
Bay... Now we are blasting by everything and he's pushing to make
it there in ten days. But I understand he is the captain and in
order to do all this we have to catch fish. But we have passed by
this and that on the pretense of having time to spend here in
Glacier Bay. But we lost two days and a weekend to snow days (he's
a teacher). Not to rag on him, I went ahead and told him what I
was thinking. Hopefully that was the right thing to do. But this
was the chance of a lifetime. I couldn't short change it. At least
I wished I had know beforehand and I would have planned my return
trip to include these stopovers we had skipped. I will see if I
can still do it, if I ever get through to the ferries. Overall,
Les has done a good job, this is an outstanding trip. I'm already
on roll six- buy stock in Kodak! Bad news from home, Bill still
hasn't sent the rear end yet. That will suck bad when we pull it
out of the hole. Need to ask about RR tickets.
|
|
6-22 THUR
No bears. We go back to Bartlet Cove early and fuel up. I make
calls to Alaska Marine Highway and add stops at Juneau and Sitka,
briefly at Wrangell. Call Bill- oh well. Les realizes we need to
relax and go on vacation. Test fishery today and plans on getting
to Snug Harbor on Wednesday next week. So we have lunch at Glacier
Bay Lodge, then leisurely head up the bay. See whales, orca, slow
up and anchor in Reid Inlet, one mile off glacier for night.
Before, we anchor next to Alaska Solstice, big scope AHS, walk up
to foot of glacier to say hi. Meet Ausis, chinese dinner,
Glacier Ice cube cocktails. Probably one of the greatest evenings
a person could ever enjoy- parked in something you've spent all
winter building next to something incredibly outstanding GLACIER
BAY ALASKA.
|
|
Fishing with Les Index
