Mostly sunny, becoming cloudy late in the day. Temperatures in the low 50s, with calm winds early, and picking up as the day progressed.
Connor mentioned seeing a little bit of slush/ice on his truck window first thing this morning. I didn’t see anything by the time I got up, but I guess there was probably some frost around.
With the sun shining, I decided to head out during my second call of the morning.
I walked the lower loop of the golf course, but it seemed fairly quiet.
After driving out to Harbor Point, I stopped at Halibut Point Rec.
A large flock (I’m guessing over 200) of Surfbirds was feeding on the beach at the mouth of Granite Creek. I didn’t spot any Rock Sandpipers among them, though there were at least a couple of Black Turnstones.
I had asked Connor about going out on the boat this afternoon. He had been non-committal, but decided to go.
We were dropping in at Old Sitka around 1:30pm. Multiple boats were coming in as we were leaving. At least two of them had deer (one had two deer).
As we headed toward Guide Island, Connor said he was planning to come back through Olga Strait since he expected it to get windier. I hadn’t realized the winds were forecast to pick up through the day.
On the way out they weren’t bad, just some chop on the water. It was enough for me to get splashed on occasion, but only mildly.
We had seen whales in the distance, and were a little surprised when one came up fairly close as we were going along. We were in no danger of hitting it, but in a boat as small as Connor’s, an animal as large as a whale doesn’t need to be too close to feel close.
With a high tide of 10ft shortly after 2pm, Port Krestof was full of water. It’s interesting to see it when the tide is up, knowing there are such extensive tide flats.
We went to the little cove just north of Port Krestof and anchored up in there.
It took nearly an hour to get the boat satisfactorily anchored. Connor had purchased the stuff to have his own clothesline anchor sort of set up, and this was his first time using it. It will take him some time to get things figured out so that it all goes smoothly (most of the time).
Today’s efforts were hampered a bit by the wind gusts blowing into the cove, and even more by the large rocks submerged along the shoreline. Had the tide been down another two feet when we arrived, it would have been quite a bit easier.
We headed up into the woods. The travel route was not pleasant, initially. There was a steep slope just inside the woods, and lots of dense low productivity shrubby forest. Fortunately, we didn’t have too far to go to get to the bog Connor wanted to walk through.
I was trailing behind him. We hadn’t gone far along the edge of the bog when I saw him bring his rifle up and shoot. I caught sight of the deer bounding away.
It didn’t go far, and he was able to get it.
While he cleaned the deer, I poked around and looked for mosses and liverworts that might be of interest.
Connor wasn’t interested in sticking around too long. He made quick work of the deer, and was ready to head back to the boat after a few minutes. He’s heard stories of bears treating gun shots like dinner bells. He was not interested hanging out to see if there were any such bears around here.
We found a better way down than we had gone up. It didn’t take too long to get the boat loaded up and head on our way.
As we were getting into Krestof Sound proper, we could see a whale breaching far in the distance. I think it might have come completely out of the water 10 times over a few minutes. As we came closer, it shifted to tail lobbing. Connor kept us far away. I wouldn’t have minded being a little closer for pictures, but Connor was cautious as he didn’t want it to disappear under the water only to come up breaching far too close. (His concerns were primed by the whale we had seen on the way out.)
The whale was heading towards, though was still a fair distance the last time we saw it tail lobbing. The last time we saw it, was when it surfaced off to the side of us.
[Update: I submitted a picture of this whale to the HappyWhale website and at the end of November learned it had only been reported one time previously, in Hawaii at the beginning of this year. By the time it was identified, it had been reported again in Sitka. As it turns out, it was on a WhaleFest Cruise I was on, and I got pictures of it again there (but hadn’t realized it until I saw the HappyWhale report).]
In Olga Strait the lid on the bin holding his anchor line flew off. I reflexively reached out to grab at it, and have a sore finger for my efforts. It floated, so we were able to go back and get it.
Once we came out from the shelter of Gavanski, there was enough chop for a goodly amount of spray. It was coming over Connor’s side. However, he was driving fast enough, and there was enough wind coming across that I got repeatedly splashed as well. I was glad I had my rain gear on, though I had plenty of opportunity to taste salt water.
Tomorrow is a market, so I’ll have a full day with that. I had hoped to have a calendar to sell, but haven’t received the latest proof yet.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
