After a very short turnaround we were back out on the water again.
This time the original plan was to do some fishing on the north end, and then spend at least 1 night, possibly 2, at the Marguerite Bay dock. Things didn't turn out that way.
We left my slip at Bar Harbor at about 1 PM and an hour later I had them mooching in the area of Vallenor Rocks. It was breezy and that made it difficult to keep the boat relatively stable so that he could stay on the bottom. It was tough fishing, but he still managed to bring up a small halibut.
We moved deeper into Vallenor Bay in hopes of getting some protection from the wind, but that didn't work out so well. He got hung up on the bottom but did get another small halibut.
We moved farther north up into Western Behm Canal and got anchored near Moser & Stack Islands. Bryan got a small halibut but then the Dogfish sharks moved in and started decimating our bait and our gear. They have very sharp teeth and usually cut through the leaders. We tried using some steel leaders, but that didn't help much.
While they were fishing, I started the generator and prepared cheeseburgers for dinner.
It was late and we were fairly far from Marguerite Bay, so I made the decision to poke our nose into the Naha and see if there was room for us there for the night.
As it happened there were 3 boats there already, but my preferred spot on the side facing out towards Loring was open. The only problem was that the big sailboat tied to the front of the dock was forward enough to prevent my getting into that spot. There were people on the front of the sailboat so we asked them if they could perhaps move back a couple of feet so that we could get in. They were kind enough to do so (with a bit of grumbling.)
You can see the bow of my boat and the bow of the sailboat are pretty close together. But we made it work, and we were grateful that they were willing to move a little so that we could get in. I had a nice chat with the man on the sailboat. He was an experienced sailor who had come from down in Mexico and had apparently done a lot of offshore sailing. The name on the sailboat was Amazing Grace III. He had his wife, daughter, and some grandsons with him.
We took a short walk up the trail. The skunk cabbage is in full bloom at this time of year. The poor skunk cabbage has a hard life. The deer eat the leaves and the bears eat the roots.
One of the local residents that I met along the trail.
Here's the picnic shelter where we have had so many wonderful family picnics. It was looking rather lonely and deserted on this day.
I saw these beautiful flowers along the trail, but I have no idea what they are called.
These are the rapids that connect Roosevelt Lagoon to the salt water. At high tide you can run a skiff up through there, but at lower tides there are too many rocks, and they are not navigable.
There was an overturned skiff stuck in the rapids, and it had a small outboard on it. There are many skiffs stashed up along the edge of Roosevelt Lagoon. Apparently, someone didn't secure theirs's very well and it got away.
Bryan found some plump salmonberries along the trail. They are ripe at this time of year.
We had a quiet night at the dock there. The Naha is one of my favorite places in the whole world.
In the morning, we pulled away from the dock at about 9:20 AM. I motored out in front of Naha Bay to a halibut hole where I have caught fish in the past. We got anchored there at about 10 AM. While we were there Bryan managed to land 2 small halibut.
We pulled the anchor at about noon and started trolling by Indian Point, heading out to Escape Point. We got several small shaker Kings that we could not keep, but nothing of legal size. We pulled the trolling gear at 2 PM and headed into Traitors Cove.
We prepared the 2 shrimp pots and dropped them in about 350' of water right before you make the turn into Marguerite Bay.
At 3:30 PM we were securely tied up at the Marguerite Bay dock. The Princess Bay is still there, and there was also a metal boat called the Hot Rod on the other side. I had to take the spot on the float that comes out on the left side. I don't like that spot, but it was the only spot left. There are black tires along that side of the float, and they leave marks on my hull. Also, if the wind is blowing into the bay, which it often does, you get rocked pretty good in that spot.
The guys on both the Princess Bay and the Hot Rod are working on the road system.
Bryan & Lindsay immediately started in on dock fishing.
These are two of the halibut that Bryan managed to get on this trip. Not large, but still good eating.
I had brought my old .22 rifle along on this trip and Bryan spent some time shooting some Pepsi cans and Gatorade bottles. It looks like he's shooting the Petro Marine truck, but he was not.
We had a nice quiet night there at the dock and pulled away at 7:15 AM the next morning.
The first order of business was to pull the shrimp pots. We got a decent haul of about 50 shrimp.
On the way back into town this boat passed us. It was hauling 2 portable toilet units which I suspect came in from the US Navy's nuclear sub testing station on nearby Back Island.
The rest of the trip in was uneventful, except for one last hurdle at the very end. The harbor department is working on replacing some pilings in the harbor, and one of them is on float #12, which is next to my float, #13. They had a big work barge tied up on the inside of the the fairway which leads down to my slip. From a distance I could not be certain that we could slide past it. But once we got closer, I decided to go for it, and we made it past without incident.
We got into the slip just before 11 AM after logging a little over 70 nm for this trip.
Another successful trip completed.
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