14 Jul 23

Happy Bastille Day. Vive la France!! We had a quiet night in Pelican and awoke refreshed, except for my very sore, stiff neck. After breakfast, Ashley went for a shower and Terri and I made another trip to the general store for a few more groceries. We picked up a bag of ice at the head of the dock on the way back. When Ashley got back, we got away from the dock, and after stopping at the fuel dock to top off the tank, we were on our way at 10:40. Heading NW up the Lisianski Inlet, at the top end, we turned right and dropped into Elfin Cove for lunch. The outer harbor dock was full, so we moved on through The Gut into the inner harbor and found plenty of space there at the town dock; no mooring charge. Elfin Cove is a cool little fishing village with a permanent population of 4 and a summer population of 50 - 100, including professional fishermen and sport fishermen. The cove itself is totally bullet-proof and very picturesque. The town is accessed via a series of boardwalks. We went up to Coho’s Bar and Grill for a late burger lunch, bought a few trinkets and post cards for the grandkids. Then, we checked out the general store and bought a few more groceries. We were back underway at 15:30 and headed north toward N. Inian Island. After crossing South Pass, with it’s 4.5 kn ebb current, we pulled alongside of an island to the SE of N. Inian and found a whole bunch of humpback whales feeding directly in our path. There were also several hundred Stellar sea lions hauled out on the rocks, making a horrendous noise. After drifting and watching for a while, we moved on into Mosquito Cove. Shortly after we were anchored, a few whales came right in the bay and fed for a couple of hours. We could still hear the sea lions from our anchorage. Since we had a late lunch, we had a small bowl of chili for dinner. We also used the Starlink to watch the Astros beat the LA Angels (and Shohei Ohtani) 7-5. The whales continued to feed in the cove no more than 400 m away from us until well into the evening. Amazing show! What a day!

58-15.020’N, 136-21.638’W; Log = 22.5, Sum = 1451.1; Eng hrs = 4.3, Sum = 3340.5