MAY 24, 2022 – RED BLUFF BAY TO TAKATZ BAY

Awoke at 6:15AM to the sound of the nearby waterfall in the background and the loud sing-song call of an Eagle, who was perched onshore right near our boat – such a nice way to start the day! I eagerly jumped out of bed to check on the status of my furry friends ashore and sure enough they were back grazing the grasses, one of them right at the edge of the shoreline. I convinced John to get up and join me on a whaler ride around the bay to try and get some photos. The light was great this morning and I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather, the incredible setting, and wildlife! Quietly, we approached the bear on shore and got a lot of closeups, until finally he ambled on away from us, after which we focused on other bears that had arrived back near the edge of the forest. Our attention elsewhere, we suddenly noticed another young bear a short distance away in another direction, who was feeding on marshy grass only exposed at low tide. I was able to get even more close up bear photos of that one! It was just the best morning and best bear sighting so far on our trip! We pulled anchor around 10:30 and headed to Takatz Bay -- one of the only areas that salmon fishing is open, John champing at the bit to get salmon. The cove was a bit breezy as we were pulling out, but Chatham Strait was pure glass, not a ripple. We had such a nice 3 hour cruise up to Takatz, not another boat in sight, it’s just amazing to me that nobody is here. At nearly every place since we left Ketchikan, we’ve been the only boats in these harbors, which I have to say is rather nice actually. We had just settled the boats and began dragging out all the gear for fishing, when a fast inflatable boat came around the corner headed straight for our boats. Yep, the Alaska State troopers. They came up near the stern of the boat and began grilling us on why we were here, what we were doing, etc. On guy was about 45 years old and a little gruff, and the other a baby faced trooper who was quite friendly. The gruff one softened with more conversation and we actually ended up having a nice chat. They were assigned to the Wildlife Division on a 2 week patrol stint, normally patrolling Alaska interior. They live on a boat while they are on duty and patrol the AK shorelines. They did end up asking us for our fishing licenses and thankfully we could all produce them! We did find out though that you have to have a special license to shrimp in Alaska (recreationally) which we didn’t know. So now we can’t shrimp until we get enough service to sign up online. John and I took the whaler out and did a couple hours of trolling for salmon but no bites. Cribbage, shower, group cruise around the bay (aka cocktail cruise), followed by Yahtzee and dinner on Lucky Dog, more cribbage on our boat, then bed.