A week ago, before the last blow that passed through Dutch Harbor, a couple of police officers stopped by our boat to check on us. They wanted to make sure we were ok, the boat was in good condition, and what our plans were for the winter. The informed us a few years back a boat procrastinated on leaving and had to stay the winter because the storms became too intense to leave. The joke now is Dutch Harbor in November is like the Hotel California, “You can check out but you can never leave”, haha. So we have started making our way east back to Kodiak.
This morning we left the harbor and said our farewells to the many fantastic folks we met in Unalaska. The kindness and interesting personalities of Alaskans is astounding. We can’t thank the people we met enough for making our visit so pleasurable. After such a large storm passed through this weekend the remaining swells were substantial today. We watched the bow go up as we motored and the swell rise higher than the solar panels until we rounded priest rock.
Only a couple of hours after departing Dutch we stopped in the Unalga Pass during a mid tide. The current can be strong, up to 8 knots, in the Unalga Pass, but it is the preferred pass for fisherman moving between the Bearing Sea and the Pacific. During mid tide the current did not get more than 2 knots for us.
We first floated the pass and dropped in various recommended spots. Sara caught the first halibut, but after reeling up a dozen times to check her lure and reset her arms were tired and passed the pole to Wade. Fishing off Just Drifting, instead of the dinghy, limits us to one pole because one of us has to be at the helm. With Sara at the wheel and Wade catching rocks we finally gave up on fishing in the pass. We moved off to the side of the pass and finally started catching. Within a few minutes Wade had two halibuts onboard both almost equal in size, 30 lbs and 40 inches long. While Sara assisted Wade with getting the fish on deck, Marj was at the helm keeping us steady.
The current started to pick up speed around 8 pm so we called it night with our three fish. As it turns out again we were surprised how well halibut out, and how many halibut steaks we can fit in our freezers. We canned 8 quarts to warm our bellies with halibut chowder on cold winter days. We dropped two Dungy traps, so we’re crossing our fingers for crabs tomorrow.
Cheers,
Wade and Sara
English Bay Anchored 53° 54.888’N, 166° 16.478W
VHF Weather Signal, Unsure SSB Signal, Returned to using repaired Iridium Go
To find where Wade, Sara, and SV Just Drifting were at noon, type or copy/paste these coordinates 53.9148,-166.2746333 into Google Maps!
