JUNE 23, 2022 – ST. JOHN’S HARBOR

We are enjoying this respite in our little harbor, it’s been quiet, no wind, not much in the way of wakes from passing vessels, eagles feeding offshore here, no big agenda. I don’t really have much to write about so I thought I’d circle back on a couple stories I forgot to write about. One was from the day we went on the tour to Le Conte Glacier. We were enroute across Frederick Sound from Petersburg to the glacier when our skipper spied a “resting” humpback. He stopped the boat and pointed it out to us where you could just see the whale’s back breaking the surface like a smooth rock. It wasn’t moving or trying to feed, it was just resting there. He told us that they rest or sleep or just take a break for periods of like 30 minutes at a time in between feedings and just lay fairly still at the surface. We still saw its spouts from time to time but he was definitely just resting. I never knew that about humpbacks. The other thing we learned that day is that baby seals are only with their mothers for 6 weeks then they part ways. The Moms and babies like to stay on the bergs up near the glaciers because the orcas don’t like to go up that far so they are safer there.

Since we’ve been anchored here we’ve had 2 sailboats come into the harbor on different days, and throw their anchor down exactly where we did prior to finding the steep shoal that shallowed way up. They both left abruptly at low tide and I can only imagine it was a hasty departure. Just now as I am writing this blog, a power boat pulled into the harbor and instead of giving us some space decides to throw his anchor down RIGHT next to us. Given we have almost 300’ of chain out (it’s 84’ deep here) I hope we don’t swing into him over the next 24 hours. He had the whole bay to choose from – what the heck. But I’m spoiled, we are used to being the only ones in our coves and harbors, and that’s been really nice. John is out fishing again and I am thawing some of the shrimp we bought in Petersburg to make shrimp burgers for dinner tonight. (Later) We went out on the 3:30 slack to try for some halibut, just outside our harbor. We threw the anchor out at a halibut hole, baited up and put down the gear. What a beautiful afternoon, not a whisp of wind, the sun is breaking out, the engine is silent, and we have whales again. It is so calm I can see and hear one in the distance, probably 3 miles away, and another one that is much closer. I think it is our same giant friend that cruises through here every day, he is just so BIG. An eagle feeds near us, diving to the water and returning to shore to eat his catch on a tree branch. This reminds me of another story from last week. When we were outside Pybus Bay watching the droves of eagles in their feeding frenzy, John saw one grab a fish, fly away, and feed himself in flight! He brought the fish to his beak with his talon and ate it while flying! We’d never seen that before. After about an hour halibut fishing to the sound of whales, we got a solid bite and the pole bent over, we had a customer! Sadly it spit out the hook right away so we didn’t get our halibut today. This evening we went and visited with the other boat next to us and found a delightful couple about 10-15 years older than us perhaps. Super nice folks and I was sorry I was cursing them for being close because once their anchor settled, we were adequately spaced after all. My shrimp burger recipe turned out great, it was basically a crab cake only with shrimp, consisting of chopped shrimp, a little bit of finely minced red onion, a little bit of egg and mayo, seasoned with a dash of Worcestershire sauce, creole seasoning, cayenne, and black pepper, and lastly some panko. I mixed it all together and made it into patties, let it set up in the fridge for four hours, then sauteed in some neutral avocado oil. I served it with some homemade louie dressing on a brioche bun with lettuce and tomato. John said it was worthy of a repeat – success! After a thorough thrashing at rummy (I was the victim), we retired to bed early.

No salmon today but caught (and released) this cute guy

These flocks of birds seemed to live in our bay, they'd congregate in the hundreds and float around then all take off in unison whenever they decided or felt threatened