It’s the start of a new season for Jeff and Susie Parker on Idyll Time, their Kadey-Krogen 48 North Sea trawler, in Alaska. Veteran cruisers, the Parkers bought the boat new in 2006, cruised up and down the East Coast, completed the Great Loop, and three years ago shipped it to the Pacific Northwest, where they’ve been cruising ever since. Here’s their new blog posting, with Jeff’s terrific wildlife pictures:
After eight days of work getting the boat ready for another season of cruising, we are finally pushing away from the dock for the first cruise of the season. It feels good to be back out on the water.
As we head out Fredrick Sound, we soon spot the familiar site of the sea lions perched on their usual red bell buoy.
We soon have the anchor down and our two crab traps deployed. We will let the traps sit for about six hours before we pull them so we head out in our dinghy to explore. There is a long dock on the mainland side that we have seen on our previous trips.
This area is known as Point Agassiz and at one time about 30 people lived here. We were told that back in the 60’s there was a school here also. Now there are only a handful of cabins. We find a fishing boat alongside the dock but it doesn’t look as if anyone has been aboard for a long time. Ashore there is a gravel road which we hike for several miles. Three trucks are parked along the edge of the road but they appear to have been here for quite awhile. On our five mile hike, we come upon a gravel pit. There is lots of machinery around but no humans.
While hiking we also spot numerous wooden boxes in the dense Forrest. They are all perched on a vertical tree branch and appear to be some sort of trap. We assume the traps are for Mink or Martens.
We spot some moose scat but never see the moose. This porcupine trotting down the road towards us was the only living animal that we see.
The next day we cruise east on Frederick Sound to another favorite anchorage, Ideal Cove. We again deploy the crab traps soon after arrival. Two nights are spent here. We easily collect our six crab limit each day, three per person. The crabs are big, many over 7”, but some are soft shell so they don’t yield as much meat as hard shells.
Between picking crabs, we are entertained each day bay a beautiful black bear which shows up each afternoon as he munches on the sedge grass.
