My daughter Jennifer and grandson Hayden were in town for a visit for about a week.
Due to my commitments to City League basketball, a massive 2-day storm, and a Thanksgiving/Birthday dinner we only had this one day to get out on the boat for a day trip. The destination chosen was the Naha, one of my favorite places to visit.
I had recently gotten a new dog, a Mini Australian Shepherd puppy named Nova. Hayden had an intense fear of all dogs, so I was a bit concerned about this for his visit, especially on the boat where quarters are tight. But, as we had almost a week together at the house before this trip, he had completely gotten over his fear of dogs and he and Nova were best buddies by the time of the trip.
We pulled out of my slip in Bar Harbor at about 8 AM on Friday. I had prepared the 2 shrimp pots, so they were ready to drop when we got into Clover Pass.
This is our track for the trip.
On the ride out there Jennifer and Hayden watched a movie, and Hayden had some cuddle time with Nova. Not sure what was going on with Hayden's eyes. Must have caught him in a blink.
We dropped the 2 shrimp pots in Clover Pass when we got there. I was not 100% sure the area was open to shrimping and when I saw no other shrimp pots in the area it reinforced my fears. I texted my friend and asked him to call ADF&G, but he said they were not answering. It was the day after Thanksgiving, so I suspect their offices were closed.
We got to the Naha dock at about 10:30 AM and there were no other boats there just as I expected. Given it was the day after Thanksgiving and it was a weekday, I didn't think anyone else would be there.
Hayden and I took Nova for a short walk up on the trail so she could de-water. And then we just hung out for a few hours. I had taken my tripod up to the house for some family photos on Thanksgiving and neglected to bring it back so I could not get a photo of all 3 of us at the same time.
Hayden had a good time fishing and shooting his BB gun. He's getting to be a pretty good shot after a few trips. We had to get him a bigger life jacket this time around as he just keeps growing!
We left at about 1 PM and headed for the shrimp pots in Clover Pass. These were 2 brand new pots that I got recently. The webbing on my 3 original pots purchased over 15 years ago was starting to deteriorate so I scrapped them and got new pots.
I was pretty disappointed when we pulled the pots and got only 1 shrimp! Maybe that's why the area is probably closed to shrimping. Hayden shows off our entire catch, which of course we released. It's just not worth it to cook 1 shrimp.
On the way to town, we passed by Clover Island and there was a raft of sea lions cavorting in the area. I stopped and quickly put on my telephoto lens and got a few shots of them.
I had hoped & planned to get back to town just as it was getting dark. That worked out pretty well, but I did not count on the dense fog in the Narrows as we approached town. I have radar, but it's not particularly useful in such tight quarters around town.
It was full dark when we approached town, and I wanted to get fuel. I had to search to find the fuel dock in the dark. I took on 150 gallons at $5.01 per gallon. I'll let you do the math. Don't forget about all the taxes they add on. When the fuel attendant asked if I wanted it charged to my account, I asked him to put it on someone else's account. He didn't think that was funny.
I've left the harbor many times in the dark, but I rarely end up returning to town in the dark. We managed to find our way slowly from the fuel dock to the slip. We got into the slip just before 5 PM.
We logged a little over 41 nm for this trip.
🤣 I definitely got a chuckle from your fuel attendant story!