July 27th Thorne Bay

July 27th

84 degrees at 11 am  sunny and breezy

David likes the Belle looking her best so decided to do some more painting while I tidied up and then relaxed with a book before heading into “town”.  The harbormaster pointed out the grocery store, liquor store, tackle shop, library and diner to us and that’s about what we found. I was able to tap into the library’s internet and get a few more posts on my blog completed before we made our way to the diner. We had a surprisingly good sandwich there along with an equally delicious peach milkshake. Should be featured on “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives”. Met a couple from Oregon who were here last year doing some fishing. They returned because the fishing was so spectacular. All reports for this year haven’t been that positive, though.

Later that day, an 80 foot former research vessel, Zephyr, attempted to dock behind us and were struggling against the wind and currents.  David joined the harbormaster and another no-nonsense volunteer and helped bring them in. It took a great deal of time especially after having to adjust their position once secured. The harbormaster wanted their bow pulled back out of the raging current so the whole process had to be repeated. The grateful captain invited everyone back for a drink, and we were the only ones who took him up on his kind invitation.

                                                         Docking the Zephyr


Captain Ron, his wife, Captain Ashley, and their friend, Travis regaled us with tales of adventure. They bought their boat from the Monterey Aquarium and have been commissioned to do experiments for NOAA and various jobs for other government agencies such as the Navy, as well as provide  chartered cruises in the San Juans. These gracious hosts not only shared their wine and beer with us but even served us fresh crab!

We were expressing our frustration regarding the lack of fish caught since Sika. Travis shared his winning technique on how to catch halibut with his ingenious line sporting a mini strobe light. Not sure we will go to those extremes, but we got some good tips.

                                 

Before we left, Captain Ashley yelled to us, "Here, catch!"  She tossed some frozen halibut our way. and said, "See there. Now,  you've caught some halibut,"

We dropped our crab pots over the side of the boat and came up with one keeper. David wants to drop a pot over near the fish station where the fisherman fillet their catch. There’s got to be a gaggle of crab beneath that dock snatching up the fish guts.  Not so sure the harbormaster would approve.

David drained all the potable water from our tank so that we can start totally fresh. Our tank has not been completely empty in some time. Got all that old water out.

                                                    Kelp collage on the side of our boat

There was a magical full moon last night.