After a good night's rest and a wonderful homemade breakfast (courtesy of the greatest mom in law in the world) we headed out to the harbor for my first ride on a boat aboard my father in law's boat, the Terrapin (Terrapin means "turtle"). He takes people out to camp on islands, picks up/drops off kayakers as well as dropping off supplies. It was so cool just to be that close the harbor! My father in law, Joel and brother in law Bill (1st mate) were making a run out to Elamar in the Titicklit (forgive my spelling, that is how it sounds) narrows, about three and half hours out from the Valdez harbor. We were invited to go along.
Bill, leads us down the dock ramp to get to the harbor it's self.
Bill, leads us down the dock ramp to get to the harbor it's self.
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The cabin of the boat.
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Valdez harbor
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Lady didn't know what in the heck to think about the water...
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All the guys helped to push off from the dock and we were on our way!
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Jeremiah gets a re-fresher course in how to tie the boat to the dock
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And we're off!
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The wake we were making was pretty neat to see. At 25 "ish" knots we were making good time!
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Jeremiah used to play the role of navigator on the boat, and it was no different this time...
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If you look closely, you can see the people (the dots) out there in their kayaks...
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The Terrapin is a landing craft this means that the boat can be driven until they hit land and a ramp is put down to allow for easy boarding and de-boarding.
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When we arrived to Ellemar to drop the couple that were going out there off, we ran into eel grass due to low tide. As we were trying to approach land, Captain Westerlund asked his first mate (brother in law bill) how far he could use the motor to approach the shore and bill replied "it depends on how much of this stuff [eel grass] you want in the props!"
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Captain Westerlund at the Helm of his boat The Terrapin
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Why must you torture me so? What did I ever do to you?
Lady wasn't too sure about this whole boat idea!
Lady wasn't too sure about this whole boat idea!
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For lunch we stopped out at Raven Croft Lodge, (about 3 hours out from the harbor). This lodge is only accessible by water or air, easiest by water. We met Laura and Nate. We also had the pleasure of meeting Cody. Cody is a small terrier looking dog with a personality bigger than he is! When we pulled up to their shore, we were boarded by the inspector who searched our boat throughly before Cody gave the okay! He led the way to the main building where lunch was waiting. Lady was ready to burst, so after releaving herself , getting a drink of water from the fresh stream...
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We headed inside for some sea worthy stories and note worthy corn chowder soup!
Laura gave Joel a grocery list to bring back to her in the morning...
Laura gave Joel a grocery list to bring back to her in the morning...
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Laura and her helper Nate sit back to enjoy a laugh or two before we headed off again
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Before we left Bill had Laura show us one of Cody's tricks. She called him, pointed her hand at him in a gun shape and yelled "bang you're dead", cody fell over onto his side and then slowly rolled over completely on his back and stayed there, all fours straight up in the air! It was absolutely hilarious!
Apparently the tide had decided to come back in while we were enjoying lunch... so bill had to go back out and push the boat so he cound drive closer!
Apparently the tide had decided to come back in while we were enjoying lunch... so bill had to go back out and push the boat so he cound drive closer!
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Ain't she a beauty?
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We headed out for Halibut (and whatever else bites!) fishing, I got to learn how!
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Joel caught a silver salmon and jeremiah caught a rock fish (it's eyes exploded from being brought up 200 feet so fast!)
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The Captain and Lady taking a quick snooze on the way back to the harbor
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Jeremiah got the chance to drive the boat!
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After around nine hours on the boat we finally made it back to the harbor, although it was A LOT of fun, it was good to get back to land!
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When we got back to our home base, aka the trailer, we had hot home made twice baked sweet and sour pork waiting, yummy! The next day we were going to stay land bound and have some fun around the town.
1 comment:
Beautiful ocean shots!
How fun!
Email me sometime. :) Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful!
Kim
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