Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
You know who sucks?
Alaska Air, that's who. Flight delays on the way here cost us 4 hours of sitting in Seattle, but that's a picnic compared to what we're dealing with now.
Original Plan: wake up at 5:45AM, drive to Anchorage, return car, 11:15AM flight through Seattle, get into Denver at 9PM.
New Plan: wake up at 5:45AM, drive to Anchorage, return car, discover flight delayed 1hr 40min; realize we will miss our connection to Denver, spend almost 2 hours trying anything, on any airline, through anywhere, to get to Denver tonight, settle for the best option - midnight flight that gets in at 710AM tomorrow. :-O
At least its a non stop but that's the best thing you can say about it. In the meantime we're killing 10 or 11 hours at the palatial Upper One faux-sports-bar in Terminal A. Whoo Hoo. Good thing we had such an amazing trip or I'd probably be pretty cranky.
Original Plan: wake up at 5:45AM, drive to Anchorage, return car, 11:15AM flight through Seattle, get into Denver at 9PM.
New Plan: wake up at 5:45AM, drive to Anchorage, return car, discover flight delayed 1hr 40min; realize we will miss our connection to Denver, spend almost 2 hours trying anything, on any airline, through anywhere, to get to Denver tonight, settle for the best option - midnight flight that gets in at 710AM tomorrow. :-O
At least its a non stop but that's the best thing you can say about it. In the meantime we're killing 10 or 11 hours at the palatial Upper One faux-sports-bar in Terminal A. Whoo Hoo. Good thing we had such an amazing trip or I'd probably be pretty cranky.
We're gonna need a bigger boat...
So a guy on our boat (from Denver, coincidentally) caught a salmon shark quite on accident while we were in our first halibut spot. we knew he had something big on, and it took him 20 minutes or so to reel it in. It kept fighting, going deep, running, going under the boat, etc. Pretty amazing since it was about 365lbs and we were looking for fish 1/5th that size (or smaller)!
They had to kill it before bringing it on board; as you can imagine it's a pretty bad idea to haul a 6ft shark onto a ship of 16 people while it's still alive. Harpoon to the gills and a bat to head seemed to do the trick, and it was hauled on board by the deckhands. However once on board, and with the deckhand standing over it at the gills (which was smart of him to be behind his mouth), he started having pretty serious death spasms and thrashing around. The deckhand squeezed the shark and held on until he could get the bat back in his hand and well....remember the end of GoodFellas where Joe Pesci meets his end in the corn field? Well it was sort of like that.
In any event it was pretty amazing to see it that close. And when we got back into port it was quite the attraction. View all the pictures here
They had to kill it before bringing it on board; as you can imagine it's a pretty bad idea to haul a 6ft shark onto a ship of 16 people while it's still alive. Harpoon to the gills and a bat to head seemed to do the trick, and it was hauled on board by the deckhands. However once on board, and with the deckhand standing over it at the gills (which was smart of him to be behind his mouth), he started having pretty serious death spasms and thrashing around. The deckhand squeezed the shark and held on until he could get the bat back in his hand and well....remember the end of GoodFellas where Joe Pesci meets his end in the corn field? Well it was sort of like that.
In any event it was pretty amazing to see it that close. And when we got back into port it was quite the attraction. View all the pictures here
Our last day...
What an amazing end to the trip....orcas, humpback whales, sea lions, porposies, a shark, sunshine (finally).....literally the perfect ending to the perfect week (except for Alaska Airlines, may it fall into bankruptcy and go out of business as soon as humanly possible). View all the pictures here
The day started out with another cloudy morning. although we quickly noticed what looked like patches of blue sky starting to break through. We headed out just past the limit of the bay into the Gulf to fish for salmon....we stopped in what looked like a parking lot full of boats all pulling salmon out of the water. things were slow at first but that didn't last long and within about 45 minutes we'd all caught our limit of 3 for the day - time to head out into deeper water for halibut!
The first stop found no halibut but a 6ft salmon shark (more on that later). 2nd stop was similarly slow; a couple halibut but mostly dogfish. Our 3rd stop (what the fisherman call a 'chicken ranch' since it's filled with plenty of small to average sized fish) was a halibut bonanza; everyone caught their limit of 2 within about an hour.
Since we had the extra time we moved on to another spot to troll for ling cod (what we called 'predators' - like the movie - since they're so freaky looking). You can only catch one per day; I dropped my line in the water and had a fish hooked in 30 seconds, so my ling cod experience was pretty short lived. I was psyched to get one though (37 inches, which believe it or not was the smallest one caught that day) since I'd had a couple on Wednesday that we had to throw back and I've heard they're quite tasty as fish n chips or fish tacos), and John got one too.
As you can see from the picture below we caught a MESS of fish.
All the fishing done, we headed back for the 2 1/2 hour trip back to port. On the way in we stopped at a rock to look at sealions.
We also passed this massive island that had a couple bunkers on the top which used to be manned year round to watch for illegal Japanese fishing vessels. Not a fun place to be stationed in the winter I'd imagine.
When we pulled into our slip a big tour boat had just let out and suddenly this mob of people developed around the boat to see the shark. Pretty funny stuff.
The sun was out all day as well; the first time we'd seen any sun at all this week. Although I have to admit, I'm going to be really glad to get back to seeing actual darkness and have my body on a regular sleep cycle!
Dinner was spectacular (as usual) at Rays Waterfront and we closed the evening with scotch (Clynelish 14yr) and cigars on the balcony. Spot on! View all the pictures here
The day started out with another cloudy morning. although we quickly noticed what looked like patches of blue sky starting to break through. We headed out just past the limit of the bay into the Gulf to fish for salmon....we stopped in what looked like a parking lot full of boats all pulling salmon out of the water. things were slow at first but that didn't last long and within about 45 minutes we'd all caught our limit of 3 for the day - time to head out into deeper water for halibut!
The first stop found no halibut but a 6ft salmon shark (more on that later). 2nd stop was similarly slow; a couple halibut but mostly dogfish. Our 3rd stop (what the fisherman call a 'chicken ranch' since it's filled with plenty of small to average sized fish) was a halibut bonanza; everyone caught their limit of 2 within about an hour.
Since we had the extra time we moved on to another spot to troll for ling cod (what we called 'predators' - like the movie - since they're so freaky looking). You can only catch one per day; I dropped my line in the water and had a fish hooked in 30 seconds, so my ling cod experience was pretty short lived. I was psyched to get one though (37 inches, which believe it or not was the smallest one caught that day) since I'd had a couple on Wednesday that we had to throw back and I've heard they're quite tasty as fish n chips or fish tacos), and John got one too.
As you can see from the picture below we caught a MESS of fish.
All the fishing done, we headed back for the 2 1/2 hour trip back to port. On the way in we stopped at a rock to look at sealions.
We also passed this massive island that had a couple bunkers on the top which used to be manned year round to watch for illegal Japanese fishing vessels. Not a fun place to be stationed in the winter I'd imagine.
When we pulled into our slip a big tour boat had just let out and suddenly this mob of people developed around the boat to see the shark. Pretty funny stuff.
The sun was out all day as well; the first time we'd seen any sun at all this week. Although I have to admit, I'm going to be really glad to get back to seeing actual darkness and have my body on a regular sleep cycle!
Dinner was spectacular (as usual) at Rays Waterfront and we closed the evening with scotch (Clynelish 14yr) and cigars on the balcony. Spot on! View all the pictures here
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Went up to Exit Glacier today; so named because it proved to be a suitable 'exit' from the 
Harding Ice Field upon exploration. The Glacier has been receding historically about a mile every 90 years, but recently that pace has almost doubled, raising concerns about the impact on the surrounding ecosystem. As the glacier melts it flows down into this huge valley, with a massive riverbed running through it. When we were there the river was pretty low but you can tell that when it runs it's incredibly wide as there are no trees or any vegetation to be seen there - the force of the water must be really something when it's running that full. The hike was quite short and easy compared to what we're used to in CO but beautiful nonetheless; we had a little bit of drama when I stopped to get some pictures, figuring I'd catch up to the group, and took the wrong fork in the trail. We all found each other eventually and made it up there, and took a bunch of pictures. The area right around the glacier is like being on the moon, lots of flinty rock (some of it really sharp like an arrowhead) and no vegetation save for some lichens. According to the guide, after the glacier recedes it takes many years for vegetation to take hold, and you can really see it when you're up there looking back down the valley.
Had lunch at Chinooks' Waterfront restaurant; they brew their own beer which was probably the best thing about the place. We've been pretty spoiled by the restaurants here; surprisingly good and in fact Ray's (to be reveiwed later) and Yoly's have been terrific.
Back on the water tomorrow and hoping for a big finish to an awesome trip! Until later.....
View all the photos here
Harding Ice Field upon exploration. The Glacier has been receding historically about a mile every 90 years, but recently that pace has almost doubled, raising concerns about the impact on the surrounding ecosystem. As the glacier melts it flows down into this huge valley, with a massive riverbed running through it. When we were there the river was pretty low but you can tell that when it runs it's incredibly wide as there are no trees or any vegetation to be seen there - the force of the water must be really something when it's running that full. The hike was quite short and easy compared to what we're used to in CO but beautiful nonetheless; we had a little bit of drama when I stopped to get some pictures, figuring I'd catch up to the group, and took the wrong fork in the trail. We all found each other eventually and made it up there, and took a bunch of pictures. The area right around the glacier is like being on the moon, lots of flinty rock (some of it really sharp like an arrowhead) and no vegetation save for some lichens. According to the guide, after the glacier recedes it takes many years for vegetation to take hold, and you can really see it when you're up there looking back down the valley.Had lunch at Chinooks' Waterfront restaurant; they brew their own beer which was probably the best thing about the place. We've been pretty spoiled by the restaurants here; surprisingly good and in fact Ray's (to be reveiwed later) and Yoly's have been terrific.
Back on the water tomorrow and hoping for a big finish to an awesome trip! Until later.....
View all the photos here
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
A quick post from Seward, AK with some photos from our trip. Male bonding, fish guts, great meals, cigars, near-constant daylight, a sea captain straight out of central casting, good times! More to come.... view the entire album here
Sunday, July 1, 2007
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