Day 6
They had been protected from the worst of the ocean swells but enough energy remained to rock the boat all night. Captain Cook eventually got up and retied the dingy so that it was not continuously banging and rubbing up against the boat, just outside his berth. The boys slept soundly as only boys can after a day of fresh ocean air. They were awakened by the shrill sound of the Captain’s whistle. This was followed by, “Get your sorry asses out of bed!”
Johnathan said, “Seems the Captain is in a foul mood this morning.”
The Captain went about fixing the pot of oatmeal and his coffee and did not respond even though he heard the comment. Not until he had his coffee did he tell them why he was upset, saying, “I figured you were becoming sailors but whoever tied up the dingy last night left enough slack that it kept bumping up against the hull…right next to my head. I did not enjoy getting up in the middle of the night to fix what you had screwed up. We are not going anywhere today until you all demonstrate the ability to properly tie a knot.” He added, “Get this cabin cleaned up and report topside.”
When the cousins reported topside the Captain had several lengths of line laid out. He started by having them tie the standard bowline hitch which they all were pretty comfortable with…until he made them do it with their opposite hand. It took a few minutes, but soon they were doing ok. Captain Cook then ordered them, “Close your eyes and tie the knot.” This was easy enough until he again made them change hands. They moved onto clove hitches and sheet bends before the Captain was satisfied.
Quinn was the most ambidextrous and was not happy with the drill but managed not to say anything. Mikey seemed to have the best natural affinity for the symmetry of a good knot but was slow in his knot tying. They spent over an hour on the knot drill before the Captain said, “You need to be tying knots instead of just sitting around. A good knot can be the difference between life and death. Now get this boat ready to sail. Navigator, plot us a course to McArthur Pass.”
It was still early and the wind had not yet picked up so they would need to motor. Quinn started the engine checklist and as he was closing the engine compartment door the Captain asked, “How is the oil level?”
Quinn had to grit his teeth a bit before replying, “Engine oil is at the mid-range, Sir.”
“Let the engine warm up for at least 5 minutes before pulling the anchor.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The engine started with the normal coughing and belching of black smoke but settled down to the 800 rpm range quick enough. Kade took charge of the anchor raising and it was Johnathan’s turn to flake the chain. When Kade indicated, he was ready, Quinn advanced the hydraulic drive just enough to take the tension off of the anchor rode. With the anchor secured Quinn moved the boat out into the deep water. Only after the oil temperature warmed up did he increase the power. He asked Johnathan, “What heading do you want?”
“After we clear Cloudy Cape take a heading of 205 degrees.”
As the morning warmed and the wind remained calm the Captain came topside with a cushion and a small blanket. He looked around and must have been satisfied because he headed to the bow without saying a word. He sat upfront leaning against the cabin reading his book as if he were the one on vacation. The boys were tying and untying their knots and starting to get pretty bored. The Captain sat up straight and just pointed to the starboard side. The boys looked and at first saw nothing and then Kade called out, “Whales at 3 o’clock. And they have dorsal fins.”
Mikey was at the helm and was having trouble seeing. The other boys were so excited they sort of forgot about him until the Captain said, “Might be nice if you let the helmsman have a look.” Johnathan entered the pilot house and took the helm for Mikey who joined his cousins at the rail. The pod was composed of one large male with a dorsal fin which was at least six feet high and some females with one young whale. They seemed to be playing, leaping into the air in doubles and falling back with a great splash. And then they were gone. Johnathan increased the throttle and they resumed their course. Mikey headed below to begin sketching what he had seen. Johnathan had Quinn and Kade working on the navigation and Kade was sure they would arrive at the pass before high tide.
When the pass finally showed itself, the Captain stood up and folded his small blanket carrying it and the cushion back to the pilot house. As he started to go below he said, “Well, at least you didn’t get us lost. I’ll take the helm in a few minutes and you can get ready to fish. One yellow eye apiece and you must stop fishing when you land yours.” He added with a bit of a smile, “Best eating fish in Alaska! I expect to eat well tonight.”
The Captain positioned the boat just off the rocky shore in about 100 ft. of water and told the boys, “Well, get your lines in the water. Only thing you are going to catch standing around with your bait in the air is a seagull.”
The boat was drifting slowly into deeper water and as soon as they hit the 150-ft. mark, Johnathan yelled, “Fish on!” It was obviously a heavy fish but after a while it quit fighting and just floated to the surface belly side up. The Captain yelled at Johnathan to real in and scooped the fish into the landing net. Only after they had landed the fish did the boys see the bald eagle circling ready to take their catch. They had drifted into deep water and so the Captain had them reel in. Only as Mikey pulled his jig to the surface did he realize he had a small fish hooked. Kade helped take the fish off of the hook and Mikey asked, “How did that little fish think it was going to eat that big jig?”
Kade took the fish off of the hook for Mikey and said, “I suppose its eyes were bigger than its stomach.” Kade casually tossed the small fish back into the water and before the fish could head for the bottom the eagle swooped down and grabbed it right next to the boat. With the fish firmly grasped in its talons the eagle flew to a perch high on the cliff. It took a few seconds for what they had seen to soak in and then the boys all started to talk excitedly about the Alaskan scene they had witnessed.
The Captain seemed to ignore the boy’s antics but his eyes were smiling. He repositioned the boat and said, “I expect to limit out on this drift so you had best get busy. Mikey and Quinn quickly caught their fish but Kade was struggling. They had drifted into 250 ft. of water before Kade finally hooked a fish. The rod was bent over and Kade said, “I think I’ve got a halibut!”
Captain John said, “Maybe, but not likely in this rocky spot. The yellow eye get pretty big.”
The fish fought to stay on the bottom and as Kade gradually brought it to the surface the airbladder began to expand from the reduced pressure and the fish quit fighting. Now it was just a dead weight. When the fish was finally at the surface even Kade gasped. Here was an almost florescent red fish with the huge yellow eyes. It had to weigh at least 20 pounds. Johnathan netted the fish for Kade but not until he said, “About time. We were getting bored waiting for you to catch something.”
Kade responded, “If you want to catch the biggest you gotta be patient.”
The Captain let the bantering go on for just a moment before saying, “Get this boat cleaned up. We need to get through the passage before the tide starts flowing hard. Mikey take the helm and don’t hit anything.” Despite the overcast it was a bright enough day and there was almost no wind. Their forward speed was a bit reduced because of the outgoing tide. The Captain who had gone below called up, “Save the fish heads and I’ll show you how to harvest the ear stones.” Kade who was cleaning the fish did as he was told but did not have the foggiest idea of what the Captain was talking about.
Quinn was getting hungry and took the four smaller fillets below to cook lunch. He had just started frying the fish when they entered the narrows of the passage and the current created a significant chop. Just enough of a chop to splash some hot grease out of the pan. He yelled up, “If you want lunch you had better slow down.”
Mikey replied, “Sorry, but I think we are almost through the n
arrows.”
The chop subsided and Quinn went back to cooking. He used a plastic bag to mix some of the pancake flour with seasonings and then added the fish pieces before shaking the bag. With the light coating the fillets were put in the hot frying pan and began to immediately sizzle. Johnathan came below to help and dished up the left-over salad from the night before. When the fish was almost done, the Captain appeared and just nodded his approval before he went topside. The engine noise suddenly stopped and the Captain announced, “Nice a place as any for lunch. We will just drift for a bit and enjoy the quiet until the wind picks up. Get the staysail up and it will help compensate for the tide.”
Kade and Mikey had no sooner got the sail up and set, when Quinn came topside. He was carrying a large platter of fresh fried fish and Johnathan was carrying the plates with salad. The fish had a sweetness to it that only fresh yellow eye has and the crew devoured the entire platter of fish. There was only one piece left and everyone seemed to be eyeing it. The boys used some hand game from when they were little to decide who got that last piece. Mikey was the winner and so enjoyed slowly eating his winnings in front of the others.
The breeze had come up enough that the Captain ordered the head sail set and the main prepared. Mikey was still at the helm and asked for a heading. The Captain replied, “Head south when clear of the point. We are not going much of anywhere until the wind picks up; which should happen soon.”
With full stomachs and a warm sun nobody was in a hurry. Johnathan spotted the first whale spout. Several more were spotted and they were getting closer. With the boat barely moving they watched the whales approach. There must have been at least eight whales in the pod. They all blew one last time and then dove showing their huge tail flukes. Mikey said, “Why did they have to leave?”
The Captain was watching all of the birds circling and said, “They may not have left. Watch for bubbles in the water.”
For several minutes, they looked but saw nothing. Then the Captain pointed to starboard. An irregular ring of bubbles was beginning to show. The bubbles seem to increase and then suddenly just aft of their boat the sea erupted as the pod of whales broke the surface. They launched themselves into the air with their huge mouths wide open capturing all of the bait fish they had corralled with their bubble nets. The huge animals were not even recognizable with their mouths fully open. They crashed back into the sea and were gone but the fishy odor of their breath remained. The birds were frantically diving into the water capturing any fish that had escaped the whales.
Kade figured it might be a good time to try fishing and dropped his line overboard. He bounced the bottom a couple of times before yelling, “Fish on!” He was sure it was a small halibut but when they could finally see the fish, it had transformed itself into another arrow toothed flounder. Mikey and Quinn tied off and stood on the swim platform to release the fish. Who wanted to eat flounder when they had yellow eye for dinner?
With Quinn holding the line, Mikey reached down with the pliers to release the hook. Despite shaking the hook for all it was worth the hook did not want to come out. Kade said, “Just cut the line. I’ll tie a new hook on.”
Mikey was trying to grab the line when the fish really started flopping and the hook came out by itself. This was immediately followed by the surge of a huge sea lion just inches from their faces. The immense critter seemed bigger than any bear they had ever seen in a zoo with huge yellow fangs which held the flounder. With a twisting splash, which soaked the boys, the sea lion fell back into the water tearing the flounder into pieces. Two smaller sea lions then surged upward grabbing the smaller pieces.
It was over in just a couple of seconds and what had been a good-sized fish was now just a pool of blood stained water right behind their boat. Johnathan who had not been watching wanted to know what had happened. Quinn said, “We just fed the biggest sea lion ever!”
Mikey said, “Wait until we tell our parents that we almost got eaten by a sea lion!”
Kade said, “May be best we don’t say that if we want them to let us do other adventures.”
The Captain said, “Good thing those lions prefer fish to boys! You might have ended up as dinner. Now you know why they are called lions.”
Quinn said, “Yeah, lions with really bad breath.”
The Captain let the mayhem go on for a few minutes before ordering, “Get this boat ready. Wind is picking up and we’ve got some sailing to do.”
Johnathan took the helm as Quinn and Mikey worked to set the sails. Johnathan found himself looking around for more whales and maybe not paying as much attention to his heading as he should. The sails started to flap and before the Captain could say anything, Quinn and Mikey worked to re-set the sails. Quinn complained, “Johnathan, if you don’t watch where you are going we can’t set the sails. You need to stay on course.”
“OK, OK. I seem to have deviated to the left a bit. I’ll pay more attention.”
Johnathan did pretty well for a while but his attention began to wander again as he thought about the forces needed to create these fiords from islands that floated up from somewhere out in the Pacific. Mikey said, “Johnathan, you had better let me take the helm or we will be sailing in circles.”
Johnathan was happy enough to go back to his charts and plot their course. He asked, “Where do we want to spend the night?”
Captain John said, “Your call. Has anyone checked the barometer?”
Kade put down his book and went below. When he came topside he said, “Barometer down from 29.8 to 29.5 inches.” They all glanced at the sky to the south and a haze was visible on the horizon. Kade said, “Looks like some weather is coming in so we should pick an anchorage protected from the winds.”
Johnathan spoke up saying, “Moonlight Bay has a protected area and looks like it should be a good anchorage.”
Captain John nodded his head saying, “A good place to hide from the weather but bugs can be a problem.”
Mikey tried tuning the radio to the weather but heard nothing but static. He asked, “Is something wrong with the radio?”
Captain John replied, “Probably not. We are in between Seward and Gore point and radio reception is pretty marginal. Which is why you need to pay attention to the sky and the barometer.” He added, “I’ll tell you about how the fisherman got their weather reports before all these relays were installed, when things settle down.”
It was a leisurely sail to Moonlight Bay and about the time the boys began to debate if they should sail into the anchorage or start the engine, the voice from below spoke up saying, “You will lose your wind as soon as you pass the headlands. I would use the engine if I were you or you’ll end up putting my boat up on the sandbar.”
Mikey was at the helm and gave orders to drop the sails. He started the engine with a little coaching from Quinn and turned the boat into the wind. As soon as the sails were secure he turned again into Moonlight Bay and headed to the far end. The narrow passage opened up into a long narrow bay. The winds died down just as the Captain had predicted and the water changed in character. It was more like an inland lake with dark colored water and without the freshness of the open ocean. The anchoring went well enough and about the time everything was secured for the night the bugs showed up. Most of bugs did not bite and just swarmed around any head outside of the cockpit. Kade tried fishing but the bugs soon drove him inside.
It was Kade’s night to cook and he asked for suggestions. Quinn spoke up saying, “I think that yellow eye would make great fish tacos, if we only had some tacos.”
The voice from the Captain’s berth spoke up saying, “Should be a couple of cans of taco shells in the food locker. Might be labeled with a ‘T’.”
“How about cheese?” asked Quinn.
“Should be some cans of cheese soup which would work well. Not sure how it was labeled.”
Kade was in his element looking for stuff. He searched through the contain
ers of cans and found a couple of light weight cans with the “T” scratched into them. The cheese was harder. He found six cans with a “C” scratched on them but four of them sounded too liquidly to be cheese. He handed the two cans to Quinn. Quinn opened the first and said, “Looks like we are having carrots for dinner.” The second can was filled with some yellow stuff that tasted enough like cheese to call it good.
Kade fiddled around and just did not get started on the cooking until Mikey complained, “Kade, we’re going to starve to death if you don’t get busy cooking.”
Kade replied, “I think we need some more of that saltwort stuff to go on the tacos. I’ll go exploring in the kayak and see if I can find some.”
Three voices rang out, “No! You cook and we’ll explore. It’s your turn.”
Quinn said, “Why don’t you two go and I’ll watch and make sure Kade does not burn our dinner.”
Kade just shrugged his shoulders and resumed searching through the bins of cans. He handed Quinn a package of vacuum packed wild rice and asked, “Think this is any good?”
Quinn looked the package over and it appeared intact. He finally found the use by date and said, “Should be okay but it has a date on it that is five years old.”
The voice from the Captain’s cabin said, “That is good stuff. Might go well with the tacos.”
Kade asked, “How long does it take to cook?”
Quinn said, “Says 50-60 minutes.”
“How about you start the rice and I’ll get the fish ready.”
Quinn rolled his eyes but did as his brother. After several minutes Kade had not returned. Quinn called up, “Kade did you fall overboard?”
Kade responded, “A breeze has come up and the bugs are not so bad. I thought I would try fishing for a bit.”
“How about you cut up the fish we already have so we don’t starve to death.”
“In a minute. Looks like Johnathan and Mikey are headed back.”
Quinn gave up and headed topside to help land the kayaks. They had found a small patch of the saltwort but none of the seaweed they liked. Kade was all excited because he was getting a bite. When he reeled in he saw that a crab was holding on to his bait. It let go just at the surface. Now the hunt was on.
Kade lowered the bait back to the bottom and when he felt the crab pulling, he again reeled in but very slowly this time. Mikey was on the swim platform with the net and as the bait and crab neared the surface he slipped the net into the water below the crab. The crab again let go right at the surface but swam into the net and was hauled aboard to shouts of delight from the four boys. The Captain stuck his head up through the hatch to see what was going on and said, “Even better. Fish and crab tacos. Seems I am getting hungry.”
Kade said, “Mikey, why don’t you and Quinn start cooking the fish and Johnathan and I will clean the crab.”
Mikey replied, “I suppose if we don’t want to starve we had better help but it was your turn to cook.”
Kade said, “I’ll help you when it is your turn and someone has to clean the crab.”
By the time Kade got the crab cleaned Quinn and Mikey had pretty much gotten everything ready. The fish was frying and the sauce and rice were ready. Kade dropped the crab into the pot of boiling water and a few minutes later it was done. Kade did his best to break the crab legs into five equal portions while Quinn and Mikey served the rest of the meal. The tacos seemed a gift from heaven with the sweetness of the fresh fish and the tangy cheese sauce. The salty flavor of the saltwort topped them off nicely. Kade and the Captain added their crab directly to the tacos but the other boys elected to simply eat the crab between tacos courses. Not much was said until the heaping plate of fish was about gone and then it was mostly comments about how full they were. Five pounds of fish and a large crab had disappeared along with the taco shells and half of the wild rice.
The normal after dinner chatter was interrupted by the Captain who said, “Seems Johnathan volunteered for dishes tonight.”
Johnathan protested, “I did not!”
The Captain smiled and said, “Something about deviating to the left.”
“Oh, gees. I guess maybe I did say that.”
“Call me when you get this mess cleaned up and I’ll show you how to harvest the ear bones from the yellow eye heads.”
They had managed to make a pretty good mess out of the galley and Johnathan just stared at all of the work. Kade said, “Sure glad I don’t have to clean up tonight.”
Johnathan’s shoulders slumped a little but he replied, “It was a pretty good meal so I suppose cleaning up is worth it.”
Johnathan worked by himself for only a few minutes when the other boys started to pitch in but not without many comments about the debt Johnathan was incurring. The harassment did not abate until the cabin was pretty well cleaned up. Kade called back to the Captain saying they were ready. The voice from the aft cabin said, “Find the rusty hand saw in the tool compartment and the surgical forceps in the fishing compartment and I’ll meet you topside.”
When the Captain arrived, topside Johnathan asked, “What are ear bones?”
“They are part of the fish’s ear and help them keep their balance. Humans have them too but I’ve been told they are just small crystals and are called otoliths. They are what make us seasick when we are tossed about. In fish, they grow with rings like trees and scientists use them to measure age and growth.”
Mikey asked, “How do we find them?”
The Captain smiled a little as he replied, “Well, it takes a little bit of brain surgery…hence the saw. Saw across the scull just behind the eyes until you can bend the front half of the head down.”
Kade picked up the saw and made Mikey hold the fish head on the cleaning table. Starting with the largest head he dutifully sawed behind the eyes right through the bone until he could bend the front half down. Four boys were trying to get a look at what was inside and a few “Yuck, is that the brain?” comments came forth. Kade looked at the Captain for advice.
The Captain said, “Now, use the forceps to feel alongside the brain cavity and you will feel something hard. That is the ear bone.”
Kade found the left one easily enough but could not find the right one and said, “Seems this fish only has one.”
The Captain was shaking his head as he got up and grabbed the fish head and shook it until the second otolith fell out. They were both almost an inch long and curved like a sea shell. “Best you not give up so easy.” He added, “The scientists take them out from the back side but they know what they are doing.”
Each took their turn with Quinn the last. He used his fingers to find the otoliths and said, “Amazing how squishy the brain is. I always figured it would be pretty firm. No wonder we have such hard heads to protect it.”
The Captain heading below said, “Get this mess cleaned up and try not to lose your otoliths. They make nice necklaces and earrings for presents.”
When the boys finished cleaning up and went below they found the Captain sitting at the table with a glass of ice with an amber colored fluid in it. The smell of whiskey was obvious. The Captain said, “Let me tell you about our weather lady.”
Long before your fancy cellphones the only radio contact boats had was short wave radio. This lady named Peggy would call her husband twice a day to check up on him when he was out fishing and give him weather info. Now shortwave is heard by everyone and it did not take long for all the other fisherman to start tuning in every day to hear the weather. Soon she was giving general news as well as weather reports to all the fishing boats and passing along personal messages like birth announcements. She always began her broadcast by identifying herself as “This is WBH-two nine Kodiak.”
On a couple of occasions, she saved lives by giving her weather reports and recording the position of the boats responding. When a fishing boat the Mary Lou got in trouble during a storm and called in a mayday it was unable to provide a p
osition, Peggy called the Coast Guard with the boat’s last know position. This narrowed the search enough that three of the crew were rescued. They owed their lives to the weather lady. For 25 years twice a day she was a voice of sanity to those at sea.
“That’s enough for tonight. Check and make sure everything topside is secure. The wind is picking up. I’m going to bed.”
Captain’s Log
Day 6
Weather was holding and decision made to head to Nuka Bay. Picked up our yellow eye rockfish outside of McCarthy Pass and had some good eating. The boys can cook. Nice show of bubble feeding whales and a close-up view of a sea lion as we exited the pass.
Barometer is falling and expect some weather will set in tonight.