Hunting Report: Admiralty Island, Day 2

It ain't easy being me.  So says Mark Stopha.

On day 2 we were going to get an early start.  After breakfast we loaded up our packs and headed down the trail to the beach where the boat was tied up.   Mark and Todd lead the way.  As the trail transitioned from coastal rain forest to beach grass, the ocean came into view.  Mark and Todd slowly came to a stop.  By the time I caught up to them I could hear, ".....where did it go?"  Oh, oh, no boat.   After looking out across the ocean in search of a drifting boat it was Mark who took a look up the shoreline and found it. Turns out we had a mechanical breakdown with how the boat was tied up.  We were very, very lucky that the wind blew into the island and not away from it.  Did I mention we were lucky?

Whew, what a relief.   I knew we weren't far from civilization but not having a boat kinda worried me.  I wondered how long would it take for someone to realize that we were stuck on an island.  I mean, for three seasons the castaways were on Gilligan's Island and they were never found.  It wasn't until they made a movie that Gilligan, Skipper, the Professor, the Howell's, Ginger, and Mary Ann finally made it off. Anyway, I digress....

Mark said the next high tide would be at 3:30 p.m.  He said if we still wanted to go hunting today we could take his kicker motor off the boat, put it on a small skiff he kept on the beach, and head across to Admiralty Island. Todd said, "we're going back to the cabin and we'll wait until the tide comes up. No hunting today"   Good move because the tides were getting smaller every day and we weren't sure it would be high enough to float the boat.  If we were a just little bit late coming back from Admiralty Island we may never get the boat in the water.  Luckily, the tide was high enough.  And you know, this time we made sure to use a different setup to secure the boat.

Was I disappointed in not hunting on Saturday?  Heck no!  It rained all day (year to date rain total for Juneau is over 56").  The cabin was warm, dry, and we were able to listen to Mississippi State beat Auburn on SiriusXM radio.  Considering Mark got his masters at Mississippi State, I think he too was happy that we didn't go hunting. Go 'Dogs!

I went to bed Saturday night knowing that Sunday would be our final day of hunting.  Would we get anything?  Even more important, would the boat be there in the morning? You'll have to read the next post to find out...