We had a quick 15.5 nautical mile jaunt to Bull Harbour today, gearing up for our first ocean passage tomorrow. A leisurely morning, there was much chit chatting among the raftees before we untied and left the bay. Everyone had their eyes peeled for the elusive coastal wolves on the early morning, low tide beach, but no sightings yet. As soon as we left the bay, Athena spotted some eagles swopping down to fish. Then a few seconds later there was a single transient orca bull, swimming past. Off to a great start.

We saw many sea otters along our route, some munching on the red urchins caught in their grasp. Some of the boats were lucky to spot some humpbacks. The swell picked up as we went further up Goletas Channel, gently rolling us along as we got closer and closer to the open ocean. We passed more salmon farms in Goletas, one directly at the entrance to Bull Harbour, getting some good close ups to the Atlantic salmon jumping in their pens. One of the feedlots had the Aqua Tromøy vessel present – a large wellboat that pumps the fish into fresh water wells to remove parasitic sea lice.

Each boat chose their spot to anchor for the night in Bull Harbour – protected, shallow, and muddy. The bay is chock full of young herring, it has been so nice to see such a wealth of them along our north island route. The belted kingfishers were swooping down to feed on them. We went out fishing again, with big halibut dreams. No luck on that front, so we trolled. Big luck on that front! We had a few good bites, and caught a slick, shimmery pink salmon, and gorgeous, fat, chum salmon. Both of their stomachs were packed full of Dungeness crab free-floating larvae!

Bull Harbour has us well positioned to cross over the shallow Nahwiti sand bar at slack tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a long run – roughly 72 nautical miles to Klaskino Anchorage, a very remote section at the base of the northern Brooks Range. Or further if the weather is opportune.