In spite of the abundance of time spent on the micro-hydro, a lot else has also happened here at the (mythical) South Kupreanof Yacht Club…..
The outdoor kitchen gets a workout with fresh crab and prawns early in the summer.
Prawn fishing takes me by a sea lion rookery below Horn Bluff.
Prawn traps also capture other critters. These animals (octopus) are very clever and this one actually unscrewed the bait box in my prawn traps. For his/her cleverness, the Commodore grants a pardon…..
Politics as usual in Petersburg/Kupreanof: My outhaul for my skiff was cut three times with a large segment discarded. The outer buoy was punctured and my suspect was later in my face with Covid hoax theory and other dangerous maritime antics when underway in my skiff….. Such it is in Alaska where stupidity reigns. Anti-vaxers proliferate but Darwin has a plan….. Fortunately these people cannot read nor write….
My creek runneth over, and I generate electricity after an eleven year odyssey of federal permits (scroll back two blogs for the first of two posts).
Like the Norwegians 100 years before, I collect ice on a sight-seeing trip to LeConte Glacier for the essential ingredient for the cocktail hour. A sailboat has the same inclination. This ice is old and very blue–the grounded glacier is 600′ below sea level–and makes perfect cubes for the mythical South Kupreanof Yacht Club’s cocktail hour. My G&T recipe:
1.) fill glass full of glacier ice-cubes,
2.) add Tanqueray to half way mark,
3.) add juice from 1/2 lime (no scurvy here!)
4.) top up with Fever Tree Elderflower tonic water. Plunge the ice cubes once to the bottom to mix and enjoy!
Here’s the visuals:
Crab are still suckered into climbing into a pot with bait–here are about 20. So far, a good year.
My first king salmon–but only 25″ with a 28″ minimum so back it went into the Narrows. Except I later discovered that residents can keep two undersized Kings–oh, well. And I should mention I paid $30 that day for an annual license simply because I couldn’t find my senior life-time permit and didn’t want to disappoint my guests. So….for an extra $30, I tossed a keeper back into the Narrows! One of my worst days of fishing.
Headquarters of the South Kupreanof Yacht Club.
My gray water line from the house plugged up after 50+ years, so out comes the shovel (and chainsaw) to cut a trench through the muskeg. I replace the line with new schedule 40 PVC. What a pain. It ran 100′.
Looking back upstream. I spent hours digging under the house with an army folding shovel the 2-3′ deep trench. It was like boot-camp except for the live rounds overhead…..
Twin fawns inspect my refilled trench. They continually nosed about the fresh turned dirt. Puzzling what they’re looking for.
Then I embark on rebuilding my old dock section/float. Lots of added beams and new flotation and I’m back in business–so if you want to visit, you can now tie up 400′ offshore and row in.
Here’s the first styrofoam installed. I have help. It took a 19′ tide to float out–which was midnight–not my favorite time of day.
My garden gets attention even though a storm approaches.
Then my outboard blows a hole in the cowling; an exhaust issue. I simply remove the covering and let the exhaust vent to atmosphere. Next Spring, I’ll consider a new 16′ Lund and a new 25hp Yamaha. That’s the plan.
Then, I rebuild all my gardening moto-tools. A simple $32 carburetor switch-out makes the difference. A rebuild carburetor kit is $24 I opt for the 10 minute switch-out, not a two hour rebuild.
Did I mention the political climate here in Alaska? My answer to this question is “no,” We are making an intelligent choice based upon science. Darwin had a term for this……
Marty–an old college buddy–drives his seiner to Alaska for perhaps the 50th time. We used to snag a fish out of the bilge of his fathers fishing boat moored on Lake Union in the mid-sixties when we roomed together at Wilburs’ Alpine Club. Here, the Indiana sports a new top-house and complete refit. One hardworking guy.
My 28th pie (actually 28 and 2/3rds) since the Covid outbreak. Life here at the (mythical) South Kupreanof Yacht Club has not changed a bit and I’m not disappointed. I only eat pie for breakfast with Sumatra coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice. Perhaps I should open a genuine Yacht Club?
I have very few visitors here on Kupreanof Island, if any, but yesterday I had two. First two BLM employees (that’s Bureau of Land Management to you city folk) arrived to seek out a 1926 survey marker near my property so I provide a tie-up on my new outer float and lead them on a trail to my point where they begin their exploration. Meanwhile, someone shoots a distress flare in the immediate vicinity and a report is received that there is an inverted floating hull and life jacket floating in the water. So the USCG dispatches a helicopter from Sitka which flies down Kupreanof Island and lands on my beach and seeks my opinion……a day in the life of the Commodore (of the mythical South Kupreanof Yacht Club)….. Stay tuned.