Work Hard, Play Hard

So I had to go to Anchorage Alaska to watch some contractors of ours do some work for a day, you know, for quality assurance purposes, and to see that everything went ok. Then it just so happened that my return flight for some weird reason didn't leave until 5 PM the next day, so we just had to take advantage of the downtime.

Flying in was awesome because there were no clouds and I had a window seat, so i was able to see some of the glaciers in the mountains of Chugach National Forest. One of the locals where we were working offered to take us out on his boat in Seward / Resurrection Bay (2.5 hr drive from Anchorage, on the Pacific Ocean) before we had to fly out on Wednesday, and so we left a 4:30 am to beat the boat traffic and other anglers.

Here we are at the docks at Seward, 7am.

The Ominous pre-boarding photo...it's probably what jinxed our fishing that day... The two guys on either side of me are the contractors i came to "see/help". (L to R: Ron, Me, and Mike.)


Kevin, our guide and new friend who offered to take us out on his boat, also brought all the protective gear. It was only maybe 40 degrees out, but he warned us that once we got going, the cool air would zip right through our existing layers and that combined with sea spray would really make us "uncomfortable". He advised us to put on all layers possible, including the extra gear he brought, and that we'd take them off if we got too hot. (I'm thinking: He does this twice a week, he probably knows what he's talking about.) I graciously accepted the advice and put on everything... I am wearing a thermal top, two knit caps, and a fleece and ski jacket that i brought for the trip, plus gear provided by kevin: another fleece jocket, rain gear, two pairs of gloves, and rubber boots. Ron and Mike did the same.

This is Kevin ... he's got the snowmobile goggles because he had to face forward into the wind all 15 miles out to the open ocean. The water was quite clear, and yes very blue. We saw lots of Jelly fish (including pacific sea nettle - orange with long stringy tentacles).


15 miles out we reach our destination - on the ocean side of the 2nd to last island in ressurection bay. We fished here first, then headed back toward Seward, fishing in different spots along the way. The salmon run was pretty much over, so we didnt' catch any.


You can barely see it above, but just below the trees and just to the right of the middle through-hole is a white dot - that's a bald eagle. It was eating a fish he caught near us. Another eagle kept trying to swoop in and take it away. The eagles were very cool to watch!

Not too bad for a self portrait...

This looked to me like an elephant...

On the way back we stopped near some glaciers... We saw lots of dall sheep on the sides of the mountains.

There were two TINY houses on this little island!

More of the blue stuff - very scenic and beautiful. I was dumbfounded at how beautiful the place was.

I call this "Big hooks...tiny fish". This is where you're supposed to hang your prize King salmon or halibut, not some dinky sea bass!!!

This is fog rolling in (left to right) very fast along Turnagain Arm (A part of Cook Inlet). We passed through it and headed up the other side along Highway 1, back towards Anchorage...

Here is the other side with the fog still rolling in. We saw a small pod (4 or 5?) of beluga whale just off to the left here.

Late evening on the previous day we drove around Lake Spenard to see the float plane airport. Simply amazing. The pictures don't do it justice...you have to see the place to appreciate it. There were hundreds of float planes parked on the edge of the lake, just like this one. You can pay $300-$500 for a 1-hr "flight-seeing" tour of either wildlife, or glaciers, or both, or even longer float-plane based fishing trips. I didn't have time for it, but if ever i'm in AK again I will totally do it. It would be sooooooo awesome to take off & land on the water! (Check out Rust's Flying Service)

Yes, we yielded! This plane taxied across the road right in front of us while we waited at the stop sign.

OK, so some day, we need to do a REAL alaska vacation, and spend 1 - 2 weeks fishing and sight-seeing. You hearing me, Brothers and Brothers-in-law? :)


Scott