Alaska redux part 8 - Valdez part 2

Monday morning, Steve knocked early on the coach and reminded Rob that it was time to get serious about fishing. They already had all their gear assembled and ready to go so off they went. Both successfully limited out (6 each) within a couple of hours. The fun wasn’t over however, now they got to clean them. Valdez has provided several fish cleaning stations along the small boat harbor. Each site is set up with water sprayers, cutting board table tops and troughs used to dispose of the unwanted parts of the fish. Jeannie and I watched as they cleaned and bagged filets from all 12 of their catch.

After we returned to the coach, the filets were wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen.

 Since they were so successful, Rob and Steve convinced me and Jeannie to get our fishing licenses. We thought a one day license was adequate, after all what would we do with all that fish? But, we walked out with 3 day licenses, new fishing poles and reels, and lures that were guaranteed to catch fish.

The best time to fish is on the incoming tide and since the tide was out, and wouldn’t be coming in until later, we decided to go have dinner and wait for the high tide. The sun is still high in the sky in the early evening so after dinner we had plenty of time to make use of our new licenses. The Pinks must have heard us coming because our efforts turned out to be more of a practice session. That was probably to our benefit because we didn’t have any fish to clean. The sun had gone down behind a mountain creating twi-light making it really hard to see where the lure might be landing.

That must be why my lure always seemed to be coming back to me, as I reeled, from a direction I wasn't looking. We returned to our coaches confident that we would come back tomorrow loaded with fish.

Bright and early Tuesday morning, (around 9), we returned to the other side of the bay and claimed our site between the hatchery and the marine terminal where oil from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline is gravity loaded into tankers. The tide was coming in and so were the Pinks! I caught the first fish, followed closely by Jeannie.

Rob and Steve did their duty of clubbing the fish and securing them either by a stringer or in a bucket. Of course, that allowed Jeannie and me to get right back to fishing. After a couple of hours Jeannie and I had limited out at 6 each.

Jeannie's limited out, Steve's still fishing

Another hour or so, (now that they could tend to fishing,) Rob had 4 and Steve 5. That was enough! Back at the cleaning station, Jeannie and I decided to go in search of lunch while the boys were busy with their trusty filet knives.

We decided to walk to one of the restaurants listed in the tourist guide located on the harbor road. It turned out to be all the way down at the far end of the harbor. By the time we returned to the cleaning station, the fish were cleaned and in the car. Rob said he would have brought the car down to us, but I had the key in my pocket.

I almost forgot to mention the bear, or rather bears! While we were fishing a smallish black bear made his way through the brush and down to the beach, maybe about 50 yards from us. 
Just at that moment, both Jeannie and I had fish on our lines and were frantically pulling them in. Rob and Steve were making “go away bear” noises and gesticulating which I’m sure caused the bear grave concern. He ambled over a log in the other direction and lazily made his way down the adjacent beach. Eventually, he disappeared into the brush. This could be good or bad since he could have circled back around unseen behind the shrubbery. When all was calm, Rob reminded us that it was not a good idea to continue fishing with a bear on the scene. It was just a little black bear.

We were all tired, but Jeannie and I still had one day left on our licenses so off we went. The day was gray and drizzly, but we were undaunted. It was good luck for Jeannie and Steve, not so much for Rob, and I ended up with only one. Oh, and another bear, a bigger one this time with a smaller one in tow, came down the same break in the bushes. (We think this was maybe a mom and cub.) They didn't seem interested in us and soon made their way back up the hill.

Valdez is a beautiful, deep water, ice-free port located on a fjord off the Valdez Arm of the Prince William Sound. It is sometimes referred to as a little Switzerland because of the majestic mountains that surround it.

Gold discovered in the Klondike led to a surge in the population and it became a port of entry for the miners. The trail to the Klondike was a hard one over the Valdez Glacier. They faced crevasses, snow blindness and just general exhaustion on their journey. In the early 1900’s copper was discovered bringing more development to Valdez. Valdez continues to grow with the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline bringing oil from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Circle.

In 1964 the Good Friday earthquake centered in the Prince William Sound hit Valdez with a magnitude of 9.2 causing underwater landslides. Valdez was engulfed by waves destroying the entire waterfront and many residences and businesses. Because of all the damage, the Army Corps of Engineers decided the town should be moved. Construction was completed on the current location in 1968.

Much as we liked Valdez we had to leave to keep on our schedule.

We left Valdez as we found it…in the fog!