Humpbacks, pink salmon, sea otters, wolves, and TV humans
Continuing up the north west corner of Prince of Wales, we've seen some rain....and some sunshine. Mostly we have crossed paths with many wild things. The wild things are here. Everyday we see humpbacks, often breaching, slapping their flukes, but mostly just feeding. As we sit here, anchored in Labouchere Bay, a humpback is feeding just 500 feet away. We can hear each of its "blows" as it rhythmically surfaces for air. We stopped for lunch in a bay where the pink salmon where jumping. I'm not exaggerating here...every second, a two foot salmon would completely clear the water and splash back in. I could only get the rockfish to strike my lure. We have been told that the salmon will only strike once they reach their freshwater spawning grounds. In our last anchorage, in Dry Pass, we shared the bay with a flotilla of sea otters. There were at least 30 rafted together to sleep and mumble at each other. A couple always stand guard for dangers, and when the alarm is sounded, they startle, break ranks, and thrash in confusion.
During our daily trek to solid ground, Kelly and Jay stumbled across a wolf carcass on the beach. What an impressive animal. You have no scale in the picture, but it's the size of a great dane. Sorry for the gore. Unfortunately, most locals will shoot them on sight. I doubt humans will ever have any other reaction than fear when it comes to packs of these impressive predators, even though it is not really justified. There are 5 wolf packs on Prince of Wales. We have yet to run into one or hear them howl. I hope this isn't my last encounter.
This young bear skull was at our next beach visit.
Back in Craig, we meet a nice couple on the dock. Tom and Caroline are from Gooding, Idaho, but they spent the last 11 years cruising out of Wrangell, Alaska for 4 months every summer. They gave us some nice tips on spots that would work well for Jay, as they had cruised with their lab until this season. Winston, the lab, is too old for the boat now. We went for a hike with Tom to a nearby point, Port Protection. This community lives off the grid out in a bay that is only accessible by boat. There is a long running reality TV show about them, so I guess it's not really "off the grid." We are humans from the earth, let me show you this little thing we call TV. We are not big Elon Musk fans, especially after the 2024 election, but Starlink has changed the world at its root. Everyone is fully connected without interruption to the digital web of humanity. The fishing boats have it, the most primitive "off the grid" shacks have it (if they have a generator), the retired cruisers on sailboats have it. There is no escape from it. It does keep us connected in both good ways and certainly less good ways...anytime we want it. But this next series of pictures tells the story about how things come and go. We these die, they are left along the road that leads to the Port Protection gravel boat ramp, about a mile from the town. One day our Starlink panels will look the same.
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