June 4 & 5, 2023 - Marguerite Bay

June 05, 2023

We were ready to move on as rain showers persisted and we would not be able to enjoy a row or kayak in these conditions. We delayed our departure as we waited for the flood tide to reach the same level we had when we entered the inner harbor. Exiting Yes Bay into Behm Canal we experienced confused 2’ seas, occasional 3’ waves, with wind gusts up to 36kts. Fortunately, the seas and tide were in concert on a flood tide keeping the wind waves down. This was manageable but not what was expected as the last two weather forecast indicated winds SE 10 – 15 with seas 2-3’. We thought about ducking out at Small Point but decided to press on to our next planned stop, Moser Bay. En-route, we received a text from Carl as he was inquiring about our plan. He suggested Marguerite Bay in Traitors Cove where they had crab catches that rivaled Tenakee Springs. We opted for this suggestion, entered the bay and found one boat at the dock, one at anchor and a third tied to the buoy. We dropped the anchor near the dock, lowered the tender and set our two crab pots under rainy skies using the left over heads from the rock fish that had been given to us as bait. Given conditions had not changed we decided not to pull them that evening but wait to see the following days weather.

We woke to a gray morning, but dry, skies. Pulling our first pot we had six (6) crabs and the second pot had ten (10) crabs. As Carl said: “Tenakee like” crabbing! We let the smaller ones go (all legal size) and took out six (6) back to the boat for cleaning and cooking. Only one pot had decent bait left so we set that to be pulled the next morning before we leave. We tendered over to the dock and took the hike up to Margaret Lake and to the Observation site. We maintained our “bear awareness” as we saw bear scat, some fresh, along the road. The hike was pleasant under cool conditions with the only attack coming from a group of gnats. The view of the lake was lovely, and the lookout would be impressive with bear when the salmon are running.

The next morning, we woke early, retrieved the crab pot with seven crab, keeping only six, dispatched them, cooked them and hauled the tender before shoving off.