Sit-kickin it

The transit north went well. We were crazy fortunate not to run into any weather. We got showered on the morning we left Seattle, but that was it. No rain. No Fog!

The first morning underway, I awoke and climbed the ladder to the crew mess. Just as I got to the top I looked out the window and saw a big bull Orca just off the port side. We were somewhere in Canadian waters. It felt like a great way to get the day/trip started. I filled up the coffee mug and went to the bridge to take over my 4 hour watch. Over the next 4 days we steamed straight through to Ketchikan,

fueled, rested, and then set out for a week of anchoring and checking out all the fishing and hiking spots for the summer. We also stopped off at the Alaska Fish and Game to get our Guide Licenses. I enjoyed a mint.

It was crazy-go-nuts to be moving north at a constant speed of 9knots, because each day we were gaining daylight, and by going so slow we could see the change daily.

It is much cooler than flying. Much cooler. Maybe the first two days we gained 5-10 minutes of light per night, and by the 4-5th it was just under an hour. It is not getting dark now until just shy of midnight. Over the next few days we familiarzed ourselves with the areas where we will be hiking and caught a few halibut. We even found a stream where I could get the fly rod out and I landed 3 small cutthroat trout on a brown and green nymph. Once we get guests on board it is company policy to only instruct them on how to fish, not to heavily fish myself. So that is kind of a bummer, but I imagine I will have some opportunity to get the fancy orvis rods out again at some point, for some light "instruction".

We are now in Sitka, doing final preparations on the ship and ourselves. We will toss docklines for the first trip of the summer on Sunday. I am ready to get actual guests on this tub so I can hone in my guide skills and hopefully be able to put on a good show after a couple weeks of faking it.

Here are a couple shots. One of the ship as we left Seattle, one looking forward from the stern on the skiff deck, and one of the gangster running the skiff with the fuzzy dice. And yes that is medical tape surrounding my finger, because if you know me, you know I break stuff. just skin this time. This time.

Straight Up Balla