July 15, 2022 - Thomas Bay, Waterfall

July 15, 2022

We set out for Read Island in Farragut Bay. Two anchorages are shown as possibilities, but when we arrived, there were floats strategically placed to make it impractical to anchor and have adequate clearance and swing room. Grrrr! But we did see a deer while we were attempting to anchor!

So, we left looking for our next anchorage, Portage Bay or Thomas Bay, selecting Thomas Bay. As we rounded Grand Point, we noticed a couple of boats fishing along the shore. With time to spare we decided to anchor, drop the hook, and see what we could catch. Sure enough, in about 30 minutes Lois pulls up a 24” halibut. We got him on-board but the rig got tangled in the net. After a bit of time, we got it all cleared and down goes the hook again, and in about the same time she hauled up another 23” halibut. Geary gave it a try, and after an hour decided we needed to move on.

Ruth Cove was chock full of crab pots, so we decided to try the spot near the waterfall. We dropped the anchor in 70’ of water and let out all our chain, 275’, as we knew the tide was going to be plus/minus 10’. It was a bit of an uncomfortable feeling due to the depth and lack of scope, plus we were not certain exactly when the anchor hit bottom, so our mark was likely off. We got busy cleaning the two halibut with a swarm of gnats bugging us during the process. It turned into a late-night dinner and off to bed about 11:00 PM.

Anchor alarm goes off at 3:00 AM, slightly out of our target circle by 25’, but not too much to worry as the apparent drift was away from shore, depth under the boat now 110’ as we were at high tide and at least 220’ away from our anchor spot. Opened up the circle about 30’ and back to bed – no more alarm. Checking in the morning, we did tend to dither in the same area and suspect we just did not have the mark correctly placed.