Clatse Bay, Roscoe Inlet to Discovery Cove

We arose to grayish skies and did not have the desire to explore all of Roscoe, as many of the towering mountains were covered by low clouds. So we decided to amend the float plan again and head for Discovery Cove on Cunningham Island. It was written up as being very well protected (important in the event those winds materialize), and required us to go through Troup Narrows to get there.

Farewell to Clatse Bay

Seals were the highlight of our trip today. No man nor other beast was spotted.

But first, I convinced Bob to head up Roscoe just to the next bay and give me a peek “up the narrows” to see what could be seen. I think the lack of sunshine made the trip lack excitement, and when we reached Boukind Bay, we were not terribly impressed, and turned around, ready to head to new pastures (or anchorages).

Troup Narrows was fun…it is well charted and has decent landmarks. More than that, it’s narrow and pretty! Our only company was a small fishing boat that had been present in Clatse Bay earlier in the morning, zooming to shore, and then zooming off. We haven’t seen another pleasure boat since we passed “Mr Butts Too” (quite a name!) as they exited Gunboat Passage yesterday.

As we approached the entrance to Discovery Cove, I spied two dinghies, which immediately told us we would be sharing this anchorage. Two boats were in the northern nook, so we took the one further west, and it was just right for us. It’s cozier in person than it looks on the chart, and certainly well protected from wind. We launched the dinghy and went tooling about, saying hi to the 2 boats in the other nook (Soleil and Luminosa, both from Washington State and owners of the 2 dinghies we had seen earlier) and generally checking out the cove. It turned into a nice afternoon, and the sun was out. We saw several good bear beaches, but no bears.

As Bob was cooking dinner, he looked up about 7:00pm and all of a sudden a zillion boats came into our anchorage. They didn’t come into the nook, but anchored further out. It was a floating fish lodge from Craig, AK. We suspect they were moving the operation north, and needed a place to tuck in for the night. There was the Mother Ship, called Northern Legacy, a fairly sizable sportfishing boat, a smaller sportfishing boat, and 3 more small fishing boats. All were in color coordinated paint schemes, white with teal stripes. All had “Alaskan” names like Grubstake and Golddigger and Whiskey Punk. Some anchored out and some rafted to each other. As soon as all were secure, the big tender from the Mothership came to bring them over to dinner (and, we suspect, to sleep).

En route, the “fishing fleet” gets a quite night in Discovery Cove

That was the big excitement for the day, and one episode of The Good Wife later, we called it a night. It was dead calm, no winds. Where are these gales? Out in the ocean, I expect. Certainly not here with us.