Our latest adventure kept us close to our temporary home in Evergreen Coho Escapees Park outside Chimacum, WA (left, top peninsula). Again, we took the red road around Discovery Bay, along the top of the map but went only as far as Sequim Bay.
Under overcast skies and with fog on the horizon, parked at the John Wayne Marina (at low tide)
where we joined our friend Doug and were introduced to his son John who were teaching us how to catch Dungeness crabs.
Brock is chatting with John while Doug attaches the pully that helps pull the crab traps 180 to 200 feed from the bottom of the bay.
After waiting our turn to unload the boat, we piled aboard for our lesson. (Doug's wife Jan, John's wife Dina (or Deena) and Brock's wife Leola don't enjoy boats, but I was glad that the guys made room for me.)
Out in the bay Doug had to point out the buoys marking the trap locations.
John traded places to pull up the traps, simple one-way gated mesh rectangles baited with raw chicken.. Brock coiled the ropes to keep them from tangling.
Alas, no crabs! All the traps were undisturbed. Since none of us had anything better to do, Doug and John decided to give up on this area
drop them in their usual spot in Discovery Bay. They usually drive directly to that bay, but decided that today they would give us tourists a boat tour of the bays. As we headed along the Miller Peninsula for the bay entrance into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we passed this island. John told us that it was protected as a National Wildlife Refuge. Two people live on it, acting as caretakers. That tower on the right is not a lighthouse but a freshwater tower. The blackened area on the lower left and top middle is burn from a wildfire that destroyed 200 acres in three days last week. John, a local firefighter, said that his unit worked along with 3 federal agencies in fighting this fire. It was attributed to humans, probably illegal campers.
Through the bay entrance with calm water and the windshield open, we passed the headland
and went about halfway in to their usual spot. John and Doug dropped them in a square (middle left, upper right plus the other two).
In spite of the leaden sky, and chilly damp breeze, the trip out was quite pleasant. Not so going back around the peninsula and back into Sequim Bay! The returning tide swirled around the bay creating rollers. The boat crossing the waves and dropping into troughs sent up spray which the wind blew back at us and making it hard for Doug to navigate.
The sky cleared somewhat, turning the gray water blue.
These pics, taken on the side give some idea of how much the boat was rocking.
After about an hour we were once again in calmer waters.
We watched as Doug and John cleaned salt water out of the engine and rinsed the entire boat--inside and out, then agreed to meet again in the evening to check the traps again.
Our little adventure, was originally planned as an approximate 2-3 hour bay tour. The extended trip, including about an hour for driving time, boat unloading, reloading and cleaning, and the time on the water, took 7 hours.
To be continued.
Louise and Duane
No comments:
Post a Comment