Hot Springs and Catching a Big One

In the morning Alden and I took off in the dinghy and left Dayne to captain the Jack. 

We sped along ahead of the big boat for several miles, with a rendezvous at Butedale, a very collapsed cannery occupied by Lou and his cat. He invited us into his makeshift home, which had been the dining hall for a small town. He harnesses electricity from a nearby stream, using old machinery from a turbine in the dilapidated powerhouse, a battery bank and old car alternators with salvaged wire from the site. A real show of ingenuity and a marvel of safety hazards.

After getting back on the Jack we continued our journey to Bishop hot springs. 

It should be acknowledged that there are very few anchorages in the area that are very solid. Many beautiful places exist, but the bottom is so deep, with only narrow crescents of shallows along the banks if you're lucky. It can take some real searching and careful positioning to get a holding one feels comfortable with. In this bay two mooring buoys and a small dock help draw travelers to he bay and give them peace of mind. The buoys were taken so we ended up squeezing six boats onto the small dock, rafting up two of the boats. 

The hot springs were great, adorned with marine paraphernalia boasting the names of every boat that had been here before. 

We had quite an evening here. We bought a box of prawns from the neighboring prawn boat and feasted on these with pesto pasta. 

Afterwards, Alden cast his line off the bow of the boat since a couple of the fishermen were casting off the dock, in order to talk them up and get some fishing tips. It paid off, he immediately caught a sea cucumber, followed by a small coastal cod, followed by a big, beautiful salmon. The big guy put up a fight. Instant energy raced through the fishermen as a crowd gathered. Advice flew around, people jumped on the boat and ran around the docks for a better view. They helped net the fish and pull it out of the water. It weighed in at 20 pounds. It was identified as a chinook and quickly eviscerated with many admirers offering their assistance. We were advised on fileting, cooking, storing, reporting... They couldn't believe he'd caught such a great fish right off the dock! We filled 5 large freezer bags and saved two bags of entrails, skin and a big head for crab bait. I couldn't believe how much meat was on that fish.

Everyone was in such great spirits afterwards. The fishermen offered up a feast of crab they'd caught that morning with garlic butter to everyone on the docks. The group of Vietnamese prawners passed around shrimp jerky, then fileted three sea cucumbers and quickly deep fried them with tempura batter. We all tried some, a little on the slimy and chewy side, but not all bad. The fishermen brought out beers and we brought out a bottle of whiskey. It was a full impromptu potlatch with country music. Alden was teased for claiming to be a novice and then promptly catching a whopper. Everyone joined in and drank and talked and ate way more crab than I would have thought possible. The happy spirit of humanity and a shared experience resonated through all of us.

We slept in the next day, enjoying another soak in the hot springs and some soap-on-a-rope before heading out.