Sincerely, Denise

SITKA AT THE DOCK

Thursday, July 2^nd

For John’s birthday, I organized a fishing charter out of Sitka with Greg, Bill, and Spencer. They departed at 6AM this morning, in the rain (shocker) and are hoping to find the elusive salmon that are supposed to be out there. Jenn, the kids and I had a nice lazy morning with lots of coffee, pancakes for the kids, and now catching up on the blog. Last night we had so many eagle sightings just from the boat. Many individuals perched on masts on boats in the marina over the course of the evening, then two perched together on the next boat over so we go to watch them for awhile. On the dock across the fairway from us there were two giant fish bins, supposedly empty, but surely smelling quite fishy. Two eagles landed on the rim of the bins to see what they could scavenge, one succeeding and flying off with a bit of something. We watched as the second one jumped down inside the bin disappearing from sight. We waited and waited for him to reappear and 10 minutes later he finally did, just before a couple walking their dog approached. We were hoping that there was not going to be any close encounter for them so I shouted over “there’s an eagle in the bin” just as the eagle emerged and flew off.

The boys were supposed to be back by 11AM per the terms of their charter, but didn’t show. Then it was 12PM and still no sight of them. Finally I looked up their location and saw they were in a bay a few miles north of the docks. I texted John to see if he maybe had cell service and he did, answered back they were still fishing because they had only caught 1 fish by 11:30. Meanwhile Jenn, the kids and I were just hanging out on the boat on this beautiful day waiting and waiting! I gave up around 2:00 and we all walked up to the store to find a couple odds and ends on my list. Boys showed up around 3PM with a total catch of just three fish among the four of them, but their guide worked super hard just for that. The fish run just hasn’t started here yet as I’ve mentioned before, so they were lucky to get what they got! Spent the rest of the afternoon processing and freezing the salmon fillets along with portioned remains for crab bait, then rolled into dinner on the boat of Steaks, French fries, and Canlis Salad.