2025-09-30 Shelter Cove Trip

The weather and all my volunteer commitments came together to allow me to get out on the water for a couple of days.

I have officially transitioned into what I call "Winter Mode." I've taken off the salmon trolling gear for the winter. I leave some bottom fishing gear on board because if the conditions are good and I'm in a good spot I may drop down for a bit and try for a halibut.

My destination for this trip was to be Shelter Cove USFS dock in Carroll Inlet. There are only so many USFS docks within my cruising range and so I end up going back to the same places over and over again. Some may suggest that that is boring, but I disagree. Every trip is a unique experience unto itself.

I pulled out of my slip at Bar Harbor at about 7 AM in calm but overcast conditions. Since I hit that object in the water last year I have not been departing in the dark. I did mount some lights on the bow pulpit; at great expense I might add. But they don't really work, so that's a bummer.

Here is a map snippet from my Garmin InReach that shows my track. Note the blue "X." More about that a little later.

Here are a few shots from along the Ketchikan waterfront that I took on the way out through town.

Here is some type of barge tied up at one of the cruise ship berths. I don't know its story or why it is there.

Here is the 164' yacht "Jackpot," owned by a local businessman. When I came back to town, he had it anchored in front of Pennock Island. But he has since purchased the waterfront property there and it has a few slips in front that are large enough for large transient yachts. I have not seen it move for a few years.

Here is a lone cruise ship at one of the downtown berths. Our cruise ship season is winding down. We still have them coming until almost the end of October, but we have no more days with 4 or 5 in port at the same time as we did during the peak of the tourist season.

Here is the NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) vessel Fairweather. This vessel was just recently home ported here in Ketchikan. They built the dock and a couple of buildings on the site. She is 231' in length and maintains a crew of about 45 - 69 people.

The Fairweather primarily conducts hydrographic surveys in Alaskan waters but is considered a multi-mission-capable vessel and has conducted fisheries research cruises.

Now, the blue "X" on my track.

When I rounded the corner at Mountain Point, I saw the tug Mike O Leary with a barge in tow in this area. I had learned from reading Facebook posts that this tug and barge have been slowly running in circles in this area for over a week. (Sorry I neglected to get some photos.)

What I have read is that some containers on the barge had shifted positions and they required a large crane to correct this. Ketchikan apparently does not have such a crane. So, the barge lines were probably trying to figure out how to handle this situation. Or perhaps they were waiting for calm conditions in Dixon Entrance to be able to run the barge down to Prince Rupert where I suspect they do have a large crane.

In any case, they were not there when I passed by on my way home the next day.

I made my way without incident up into Carroll Inlet. I stopped partway to Shelter Cove to prep my 2 crab pots. I dropped them both right out in front of the dock. I have gotten crabs here on previous trips.

At about 10:40 AM I got securely tied up to the dock there at Shelter Cove. There was no one else around.

The dock here is in pretty bad shape. I hope the USFS puts it on their repair or replace list soon.

Here is a shot of the broken bull rail on the front corner of the dock.

The last time I was here there was quite an elaborate hunter's camp set up in the clearing right at the top of the ramp. Here are a couple of shots from that previous trip showing the camp.

And here's what that area looks like now on this trip.

However, deer hunting season is open and apparently you can now drive to this site from town. Just around the corner from this spot there was a big truck with a 4-wheeler ramp. I did not see anybody around, and when I walked up there later in the evening the truck was gone.

On my walk I ran into one of the local residents. They say these caterpillars can predict the severity of the winter, but this one was silent when I asked the question.

I walked over to the Humpy stream. I call it that because at certain times of the year this little creek is choked with Pink salmon heading upstream to spawn. It's too late in the season now and there were no fish that I could see. Even without the fish it's a neat place to visit.

On the way back to the boat I saw this neat "Bear Bread" on a tree. It is a type of fungus, I think.

I noticed these 2 eagle feathers that someone apparently strategically placed in the hollow of a tree.

The weather was pretty nice, and I hadn't taken any selfies on the dock for quite a while, so I decided to take a couple. For these shots I set up my camera (a "real" camera, not a cell phone) on a tripod and then set it to a 10 second delay. That way I can press the button and then run and quickly get into position.

On the Glacier Bay trip earlier this summer someone showed me how to use the "Pano" mode on my cell phone camera. I used it to take a couple of shots of Carroll Inlet from the dock.

Here's a short 360-degree video that shows the dock, the boat, and the general area here in Shelter Cove.

That evening after dinner the weather was still pretty good (translation: no rain, very little wind) so I decided to have a fire on the dock. Don't be alarmed, I have a piece of plywood with metal sheets on it, and also a small plate of stainless steel under the fire pit which prevents the heat from damaging the dock.

When the weather allows, I prefer sitting out by the fire rather than staying inside the cabin and watching a movie. It would be more enjoyable with company, but that's not how my life has worked out.

I sat out by the fire for quite some time before finally retiring to the cabin of the boat.

I had a quiet and restful night aboard. Lately, I have started a new process for overnight. When I am alone on the boat, I start one of my Apple Music playlists playing on the stereo system, and I just let it play all night long. It does not keep me awake and I enjoy the music.

In the morning one of the first things that I did was to retrieve the trail camera that I had set out on the logging road. I am always curious to see what may walk by when I am not up there. This time it captured a couple of does walking by. Deer season is open, but in our area, it is bucks only, so these does have nothing to fear from hunters.

I stowed the fire pit, checked the engines, mounted the pot puller, and did some work on my laptop until about 11 AM. Then I fired up the engines and pulled away from the dock.

The first task was to pull the 2 crab pots that I had set out in front of the dock. The first pot was completely empty, which was pretty disappointing. However, the second pot had 2 legal males in it and 1 female that of course had to go back in the water.

I also had what my buddy told me was a "Decorator Crab" hanging onto one of the pots. He was a cute little guy, only a couple of inches across the back.

I neglected to take any photos of the crabs before I butchered them and cooked them, but here is what they looked like in our fridge at home. Not much, but pretty tasty anyway.

The rest of the trip home was uneventful. I piloted from the flybridge helm. It is getting close to the time of year when I will be unable to pilot from up there. There is no heat up there and the front window and the clear portions of the flybridge enclosure get all iced up and there is no visibility. So, for most of the winter months I have to pilot from the lower helm.

Carroll Inlet itself was very calm, and it stayed calm right until I was just a few miles from town. Then a stiff NW breeze kicked up, just enough to make it a challenge to get into my slip unassisted. But I made it.

I logged about 51 nm for this trip.