Boat Day

 

 

 

Last Saturday we got to take a family boat day courtesy of our friends the Gho family, who graciously asked us to "boat sit" while they took a family trip to Fairbanks. I have to admit I was kind of nervous about how Sydney would do on a boat all day but it was a lot of fun! After stopping to get some fish guts from the cannery for bait, we headed out from Amalga Harbor. Andy dropped some halibut line at Halibut Cove and then we drove over to Shelter Island where we could see a rather large pod of whales nearby - most likely feeding due to the large cloud of birds above them. The last picture above is there solely so you can see how to spot the whales. I can count 8 simultaneous spouts in the above pic (you can see the puffs of water they're shooting), however I think this particular pod probably had like 20 or so whales. It was so awesome to get so close to the whales. I was surprised by how close they got to the boats as well. There were 10 or so boats all around them following them along the shore of Shelter Island. Please turn your volume of for the whales so you can get the full effect of how close they were and all around us in the boat. I was really happy when I found out the camera caught the sound of their spouts. (PS... I talked during the video because I was excited, however I think it makes it more real as well, so I don't generally try to be quiet :)) After the whales we drove over to Aaron Island to let Sydney run around and play. We had a picnic lunch, played in the sand and watched the seabirds for a while. After we went back and pulled up the halibut line which had a 16 lb Halibut on it, Andy's first, and then we headed home. We all got sunburned; I didn't even know that was possible in Juneau! But it was a fun day. Andy took the boat out again this Saturday with some guys from the ward and caught 6 pink salmon and a cod. I did have him give those away this time though as our freezer is getting full, and he's the only one who will eat them.  I never knew I married a fisherman... I guess that's Alaska for you.