Sunday 12 July 2015

Kodiak to Kotoi bay

19/6/15
Chris arrives at the boat 07:00 and we pile into his Focus and make for the diner. Joe is already there, but no sign of Peter................he eventually arrives about 07:30..........loads of coffee, hash browns and omelette later............i'm stuffed !!!

Chris drops us back at the boat.....cheerios all round, Chris says any problems during our time in the USA, get in touch and he''ll try his best to help...............real good bloke !!!
Get ourselves sorted, lines dropped, a few fishermen wish us well and we're off, 11:45am.
I try to call the Fuel dock, no response, so we just meander up past the fish cannery and pull in. Steve runs alongside a bit too fast and bursts one of the big black fenders off the port side...........no major problem, we can fix it later.
We take on about 500 US gallons of diesel (20galls in jerry cans / jugs).
Peter has promised to put a plane up to take some photos of Novara under full sail about 13:30 to 14:00..........just in good time, we are taking on fuel at 12:30.

Under the bridge and out into the bay to the North of Kodiak, we tack back and forth in light airs awaiting the float plane to arrive. A few pass us close and we're not sure if it's Peter or not.
Then a wheeled plane comes swooping in about 14:00..........it's them, nearly taking the masts off !!!
They do a couple of fly pasts and they are gone.......hope they got some good pickies !!!!

We decide to head for Kotoi bay for the night.........we see whales everywhere........a big Humpback ??? swims within 50 feet of us..................then flicks his tail ........amazing !!!

Into Kotoi bay............there are 2 boats fishing with nets, we call them on Ch. 16......
......."can we get past without disturbing you" ??
......"no problem is the reply, just go to the north of our nets, we'll take them in a bit"
..................what stars !!
We pass them with no problem and carry on to the head of the bay..............anchor down.....i have supper on..................FRESH, FRESH salmon....mmmmmmmmmmmm with courgettes and baked potato.
Soon the fishermen are at the boat in their skiff...............3 huge salmon for us..................wwwwwwwwwwwwooooooooooooooooooooowwww
1 sockeye and 2 dog salmon...............i can hardly see the difference until i fillet them.
The sockeye is far more pinky and subtle...................the dog, very red indeed.................beautiful fish though.
The guys come aboard for a few sherbets, they are from Kodiak and know Peter.........we have a great craiche.
Wynn (skipper, is about 25 i would say), Mike the deck hand (ex Afghan veteran) and Dieter (?) the engineer.........really ace guys, they stay for an hour or two.
During this time we see a couple of otters and next minute a Kodiak bear in the trees next to a clearing behind the beach. Unfortunaely only there for a minute or so and nobody had chance to get a photo.....darn it.


A humpback breaks surface and we see the fluke..........good shot terje








From left to right.........Steve, Mike, Dieter? (in yellow), me kneeling, Wynn.




A couple of shots taken by Peter from the aircraft, as they passed by us coming out of Kodiak





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