ELFIN COVE TO PELICAN

Wednesday, June 24^th

Happy Birthday to my birthday twin and stepdaughter Ashley! She’s 33 and today I am now 65. My brother Don sent me the funniest birthday message which said “from now on you get to check that box on all forms you fill out that says [  ] 65 and over” yes, it’s true. Medicare here we come. Thank you to everyone that sent me birthday wishes, it truly warms my heart that you remembered.

Today we had a short cruise, just 25 miles, from Elfin Cove to the next cute town of Pelican, also built on stilts and boardwalks but on a larger scale. The infrastructure here is quite nice with water and power on the docks, and even a place to dump garbage which we sorely needed. After processing all the halibut a few days ago, I had reams of paper towels that I had used in between all the fillets to absorb the moisture before vacuum sealing. One does not dispose of those in the general trash compactor we have on board, we bundle them up in an airtight bag and store in the engine room until we can dispose of them. Let’s just say our engine room has smelled pretty rank for the past couple of days! It was a relief to get them off the boat. Anyway, once securely docked, and once the latest downpour had subsided, we set out to explore Pelican with the Abells. Whereas Elfin Cove’s boardwalk is circular and circumnavigates the tiny island upon which it's situated, Pelican is a one-mile-long straight boardwalk. We first met the purveyor of the Lisianski Café, only open for breakfast and lunch, and he gave us a quick rundown of where everything was in town. He was just closing but offered to fire up his grill again if we were hungry, so nice…but we’d had lunch. We moved on to the General Store where we talked at length with the owners who moved here with their family (13 children, 6 of which were still at home) and took on the ownership of the store just 4 years prior. They were absolutely delightful and he is now the mayor of Pelican! Pelican is the second smallest incorporated city in the State of Alaska with just 90 full time residents. It is a mix between commercial fishermen and eco-tourism or fishing lodges. Pelican was the home of a cannery and cold storage that was the lifeblood of the community since it began operations in 1942. It has since been decommissioned but remains on the waterfront and is utilized by a private company for cold storage. Once again it is a village of hardy individuals looking for the remote existence, and also transient folks who just come up in the summers for the fishing. After walking the extent of the boardwalk, the weather had continued to improve to the point where we had sun breaks so we took off in the whaler on an exploration cruise. Directly across the channel are gorgeous waterfalls so we first checked those out. The water was smooth so next we zipped down the inlet to some buildings we spotted in the distance and found another small settlement down there with some homes on stilts and also one very nicely built compound. We rounded the corner to witness a Sea Lion aggressively chasing bait, launching his full body out of the water and then diving down, like a competition breast stroke swimmer. Wait, what do I spy in the distance? A brown mass on shore and yes…it’s moving! Brown Bear! First one we’ve seen in a while. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get very close to shore due to the extended tidelands, and we violated the first rule of exploration which is to “always bring a camera and binoculars” so all we could do is squint and enjoy from a distance. We moved on and motored into a little tiny bay where we saw Eagles circling and diving to find huge amounts of bait in the water, which is probably due to the Sea Lion herding it all back there. The Eagles retreated to the trees and just watched us, unwilling to fish with our presence, so we soon left them in peace to feed. The weather turned a little chilly from there and the chop picked up so we decided to high tail back to the harbor. Birthday dinner tonight was some tenderloin steaks, grilled prawns, roasted brussels, and wedge salad. Connie surprised me with an angel food cake and ice cream for my birthday which was delish! Played 5 Crowns, Connie whipped us all, and called it a night around 11PM, late for this birthday girl! Pelican might just be my new favorite town in Alaska.

Beautiful evening from the dock in Pelican

One of the homes in Pelican, no roads everyone has to arrive to their homes via boat

Another blurry brown bear picture

More homes in the outskirts of Pelican

Beautiful views up the Lisianski Inlet

Out for a cruise!

Town of Pelican from the water

My XTRARUF guy

Flowers and abandoned boats

Salt Marsh Flats looking west from boardwalk

Zoom in on the sign on chicken coop, Fluffy Butt Hut

Plover (I think) surfing for bits

Juvenile Eagle

Pelican City Hall

View of the Harbor and landscape from the Boardwalk, Huntress in the background

Waterfall across the channel from Pelican

More Pelican shoreline....

Coming down Lisianski Inlet on our way to Pelican. Although it's raining and gloomy one can see how gorgeous the surrounding peaks are, and only imagine what it would be on a clear day!

Our route today from Elfin to Pelican

ELFIN COVE AT THE DOCK

Tuesday, June 23^rd

The boys got up early this morning and ran out to the fishing grounds which is about an hour down the coast to where the guide boats go. It is still flat calm in the Gulf of Alaska so they were able to easily get out there. Connie and I spent the morning on our respective vessels having a leisurely morning which I spent cooking up a storm in the galley and I think she spent it doing financial stuff for all the many things she manages. I decided to make a new recipe for Zuppa Toscana which is sausage, kale, potato (or gnocchi) soup. I couldn’t find gnocchi so looked up on the internet to see what I could substitute and Google recommended tortellini so that’s what I used. The soup was great for a few hours, but by the next day the tortellini had completely taken over all the liquids and absorbed everything, and I am left with a pile of mushy pasta that is headed overboard later today (June 25). I made a giant bowl of green salad that we can feed off for a few days, and some crab louis dressing from scratch so we can have crab louis salads for lunch today, consuming the last of my crab catch. Also mixed up a giant bowl of slurry for my prawn bait. Smelly stuff. The boys came back with a sad report of no fish to speak of, except for lots of pinks (humpies), which are not great eating fish unless consumed within a few hours. They could be used for smoking and canning but we skip keeping them and will wait for the Kings and Silvers.

The weather cleared up somewhat so Connie and I decided to take the kayaks out for a nice long paddle in the afternoon and it was just so beautiful. We paddled out in front of the docks and around a little islet, completely exposed to the opening of the Gulf which was still flat calm. Eagles were perched on rocks and in trees and there was even a Sea Lion diving about near us. We made sure he knew we were there, wouldn’t want to take a tumble from him surfacing near us and then I’d probably jump out of my skin and tip over! We paddled back into the inner harbor of Elfin Cove which is lined with homes and fishing lodges, some homes dilapidated and abandoned, others spiffy and new. Just as we were turning to head back to the boats, we got some light rain to urge us to paddle faster. I was hoping for some hot chocolate when we got back, as I was chilled to the bone, but settled for herbal tea as it seems I failed to stock hot chocolate. As the rain got more serious, we played some afternoon cards (“Whiskey Poker”) with the Abells and then decided we should go support the local economy and had dinner up at the Coho Bar and Grill, burgers and beers. I was able to strike up a conversation with a couple of locals sitting up at the bar and picked their brains about life in Elfin Cove and why they chose this remote existence which was fascinating. The answer I most get when I talk to locals living in small villages is that they like the scenery, the peace and quiet, the fishing, and the fact there are very few people. It has to be a rough existence over the winters.

Brady Glacier- view from the boat looking north

Loved this photo of Brady Glacier in the distance, the boys returning from fishing and a seaplane taking off

And we have loft!

Boys returning from fishing, they got soaked this morning

Miss Connie on our paddle adventure

This guy/gal didn't seem to be bothered by us

The landscape is so rugged

The compound of one of the oldest (longest term) residents in Hoonah

The fishing boat shack in Elfin Cove

This is a map of where the boys went fishing today

EIGHT FATHOM BIGHT TO ELFIN COVE

Monday, June 22^nd

Oh yes I can already feel the days getting shorter. Not really, it’s still light at 4AM, light until past 10PM. Today we pulled up stakes and departed for Elfin Cove, a darling tiny community on the edge of the Gulf of Alaska. It is built entirely on stilts and boardwalks, only about 20 people live here year ‘round, swelling to a couple hundred during the summer. Despite a population of 20 it has (I think) 4 fishing lodges here, one of which my son Jordan has been fortunate enough to come a couple of times (thanks Kevin!). The single linear dock is another “first come, first served” dock and only has room for 2-3 boats on either side so you never know for sure if you’ll get on the dock until you’re here. We had a Plan B anchorage picked out just in case. We arrived to find the dock full on one side and one space on the other which Abells were able to squeeze into. We motored away thinking we’d just go anchor out not far away, when Greg called and said a space had just opened up and there was room for us, so we did a 180 and got back to the dock and snagged the last spot! As always, we made our way up the boardwalk to find the local bar for a celebratory beer, and tour the town. Afterwards we did a little exploration of the surrounding coves in the whaler getting up close to the wild rocky shoreline and all its creatures – again many Eagles – and the Sea Lions like it here too. The fish are plentiful although not really running right now so everyone, including the wildlife, is waiting for the next run to surge through. Dinner was Chicken Chili and Cornbread and was delicious!

On the Boardwalk at Elfin Cove

Looking into the inner harbor at Elfin Cove

Greg and Connie

Pretty Miss Connie

At the Coho Bar and Grill, Elfin Cove

One of the fishing lodges here

Eagle Charters, a fishing lodge Jordan has been to

At the head of the inner harbor looking back at Elfin Cove

Commercial Fishing Boats, we loved the name of the light blue boat

Today's journey from 8 Fathom Bight to Elfin Cove

EIGHT FATHOM BIGHT AT ANCHOR

Sunday, June 21^st

Happy Father’s Day and it’s also Summer Solstice! As my father would say, “after today the days are getting shorter.” Woke up to Miami Beach again! No wind, bountiful sunshine, ah….this is the way it’s supposed to be. I quietly got up and let my skipper sleep in since he had a fairly sleepless night. Eventually Connie was also up and we set out to retrieve our crab traps – Connie had a female in one and a bullhead fish in the other. I scored two keepers, one missing a claw, and a few females but nothing at all what we expected since the commercial crabbers clearly think this is a hot spot. We decided to move them into the back bay closer to our boats where the commercial crabbers also had set some pots in 20’ of water. Today was glorious sunshine all day and no wind, our best weather day yet, and so nice to be on anchor not at a dock. I spent the morning making some white chicken chili for future days I don’t feel like cooking, and with the leftover chicken made some buffalo chicken wing dip for a future happy hour, both headed to the freezer. Also whipped up some pico de gallo for tonight’s dinner of halibut tacos with our fresh hali! Then John and I spent an hour vacuum sealing our haul from yesterday. Next up was a very long kayak trip for Connie and me, gliding through the smooth waters surrounding us, again looking for bears. None. We think maybe it’s because there is no water feature back here, no stream where salmon would return to, but who knows. Chichagof Island is supposed to have the largest population of brown bears in the world, so we had higher expectations! We pulled our pots later in the afternoon, Connie got one keeper and a large starfish, and I caught the bullhead this time, but nothing else. So much for crabbing here. Tonight was the first time it was warm enough to have dinner outside, and we spent the entire evening until close to 10PM, relaxing and visiting with the Abells on the back deck, it was a superb night. Lucky us. 

A BIG ONE

Our two anchor drags

At Anchor in Miami Beach Bay!

Halibut Tacos with Spicy Slaw, Avocado Crema, and Pico de Gallo

This big tree decided to visit late last night

Sunset, 10:15PM, Glass Again