Michael's King Salmon

As promised here is my next post of the King Salmon Michael caught today. After filleting it up we ended up with 15 pounds of edible salmon! Whoo Hoo! Caught it down in Silver Bay. Most of the day was very pleasant then it rained for awhile. Took it to the cleaning station, which was really gross, but found it to be a female full off eggs! Fish heads and guts every where! LOL  So we did not get skunked today and we are very happy about that. A few more king salmon dinners for the freezer. I like it! I like cutting the tail off at about 6 inches up from the tail and baking it as a roast, Delicious. That is tomorrows dinner. :)

Beautiful Day fishing!

Hello pretty girl!

Man she is heavy! haha

My little Allen

Well again yesterday, as we were out on our locals tour with Allen Marine Tours my little whale I have named Allen that you saw in a previous post, did not disappoint our passengers. Was kind of a slow day for wild life, then our captain saw our whale! We only had 19 folks on board so there was plenty of room for everyone to get some awesome photos! Michael ordered my new telephoto lens Friday for my camera, 5.6, 18-300 zoom. I can hardly wait to get some shots with that sucker! Up close and personal! Suppose to be here Wed. Whoo Hoo! Going out on the boat today to do some catching. Kings are here! That will be another story, hopefully. LOL

Momma just cruising while my little Allen or Aly, entertains us

Whales in Sitka Sound

Had a couple of fun days at work with Allen Marine. We came upon a Momma Humpback whale and her calf on one of our tours. This little guy, weighing in at about 2,000 pounds was having so much fun, which made for a great photo opportunity for our passengers. He came up and out of the water 4 or 5 times much to our surprise. The boat was cheering each time he breached and his mom just stayed close by and like mothers all do, probably thinking, show off! That's ok with us!  These Humpbacks are truly an amazing thing to watch in their natural environment. I feel so lucky to get to witness this as often as I do. We have decided to name him Allen or if it's a girl Ally. LOL  He will not be fully grown for about 10 years so hopefully we will get to watch his or hers progress through the seasons. Fabulous times here in Sitka! We are loving life!

Nice little raft of Sea Otters just kinkin back

Our whale we call Allen, breaching, or just having fun!

Splash down!

Nice Fluke!

Poking his nose out

His Pectoral Fin

Having fun! Kids will be kids! haha

Another shot of his Pectoral Fin 

22nd Wedding Anniversary

Michael and I went to Lake Eva again this year for our anniversary. This is by far our favorite cabin so far. We arrived Friday afternoon via Harris Air, flown by John in the beaver. We landed at the cabin at about 4pm. I hoped out of the plane and Michael told me to go check the cabin to make sure everything was ok and no bears had gotten in. To my surprise there was a beautiful bouquet of a dozen red roses for the love and passion we share and 5 tie dyed roses for the fun we have. How sneaky Michael and John were to do this for me. John flew the flowers over on Thursday so they would be there when I arrived. Thanks John! and thank you to my wonderful husband that I love more than words can say!

We had some nice weather but mostly it rained. We had taken our rain gear and weren't afraid to use it. lol
Michael caught a couple of cut throat's that we had for dinner one night. They look like trout and taste like it also. We hiked to the beach via the Lake Eva trail. It's a nice hike and we fished the river on the way there. I finally caught a fish but it was to small so we threw it back. Michael had caught a small one that did not survive the removing of the hook and as it's little body was floating down river, right in front of us, an Eagle swooped down and scooped that little fish right out of the water. The circle of life seen first hand!

We had a wonderful weekend and I look forward to many more adventures with my wonderful husband!

My beautiful flowers!

Boating with my hubby

This was a drawing in the cabin log book,  beautiful

Enjoying a fire, day 1

Beautiful evening

We had another float plane land on our lake and fish

One of Michael's fish

More boating

Out on the lake

Fishing up river

He got kind of wet trying to cross this to save his lure. He saved it. 

hahaha the one the eagle got

Hike to the beach

This is how.........

Michael washes.......

Frying pans at Lake Eva! hahahaha

We actually got a fire with no rain

Inside the cabin next 3 photos

You have to bring everything including fuel for the heater

and water.  But it is nice a cozy!

Memorial weekend

Memorial Day weekend was upon us and we really wanted to go camping. I have to admit with the bear population around here, we just are not up to tent camping. I see Martha and I in a tent as a "twin pack" of bear snacks.

The weather forecast was pretty good, so we loaded up the boat for our first overnight trip. With a nice V berth and cozy cabin we would be living the high life on the "BelleyAche". (They say it is bad luck to change the name of a boat). We decided to go to Kalinin Bay on the north west end of Kruzof island. Kruzof island is just across the sound from Sitka and is the home of Mt. Edgecumbe, the volcano in many of our pictures. To get there you need to run up through Olga and Neva Straights and out into Salsbury Sound almost to the Pacific to reach Kalinin Bay about 35 miles from Sitka.

We did not make it out the other side of Neva Straight before we met the Alaska State ferry Matanuska coming the other way. This is akin to meeting a semi truck coming the other way on a one lane road. We found a little hole to hide in with another boat from Sitka and watched them pass.

With the straights behind us, it was time to get the trolling gear in the water and see about some dinner! The King Salmon are here in pretty good numbers this time of year. Kings are the top of the Salmon world. The oil content is pretty high, so it just melts in your mouth. Cut a herring plug and sink it down about 100 feet and start trolling your way to your destination.

About 20 minutes later this fine young lady fish decided to join us. She came in at 32 inches and I am guessing about 20 pounds. Not huge by King standards, but still about 9 meals after cleaning.

This guy cam paddling by us in Salsbury Sound way far from any town. He definatly beat us out on the adventure scale.

 

Taking in some sun while on anchor in Kalinin Bay.

We had plenty of company as the Sitka King Salmon Derby was on and this boat was up here to take in people's fish so that they did not have to run all the way back to town to get them weighed in.

After rowing to shore in the dinghy the mighty Belley Ache looks pretty small!

Nothing better than fresh salmon sashimi and relaxing in your slippers for the evening.

On Monday we hiked the trail to Sealion Cove on the Pacific side of Kruzof Island. The trail is 2.5 miles each way and was developed by many agencies and a local group.

The trail climbs 500 feet is a very short distance so they built stairs out of all kinds of things. My favorite use for them was to sit down and catch my breath!

At the other end of the trail is this beautiful 2 mile long white sand beach. The sand is as fine as powder.

It was a great day to be at a beach. There was a family there and the kids were playing in the surf. While Martha always makes it look colder than it really is, I was not about to get in the water. The temp was in the high 50s and the water is about 50 degrees.

Until the next time I hijack Martha's blog, this beautiful lady and I will be exploring Alaska. Come join us sometime!