Day 81; July 19: We left Petersburg, with the intent to reach the middle of Wrangell Narrows at 9 AM. The tide meets in the middle of the narrows so you can get a current push in both halves of the narrows. If you go at the wrong time you can have as much as 6 kts current against you the whole 20 miles. We anchored at Sokolof Island tonight so we can try some Halibut fishing nearby tomorrow.

Day 82; July 20: We went fishing for Halibut today. We tried several spots but no love. A west wind had picked up and was bringing swell into the anchorage that was dead calm last night. About 5:30 we decided to pick up the anchor and move on, there is an anchorage on the east side of the island 3.5 miles away. We also had to pickup our crab pot on the way out, it was empty. We got to the anchorage and found it was full of crab pots but fortunately there was room for us and it was dead calm.

Day 83 July 21: The plan is to go to Wrangell today so we did a slow start since it is only 8 miles away. We got in and went to town and met up with the folks on Ocean Flyer. We have crossed paths several times this summer, it was good to see them. There was a boil water notice in effect so nearly all restaurants and bars were closed. We did find a bar that was open because they had a huge stash of ice from before the water issue.

Day 84; July 22: Went and did a couple loads of laundry. Talked to a lady that was hanging out in the laundromat because their boat was out of the water today. Then we went to get groceries and found the pizza joint was open. To go containers only and no silverware. We had lunch and then to the grocery store. The woman from the laundromat, her husband got the boat back and told another boater he would take him fishing. When they stopped to tell about the fishing trip the husband said if we get two I will bring you one. They left at 5 PM and got back about 8 PM with two Halibut. He did bring over a couple of pieces for us not an entire fish. I pumped him for info on the location and it was very close to where we were around Sokolof Island.

Day 85; July 23: We decided to go back to Sokolof Island and try again for a Halibut. One piece of info was that he had been fishing in 40’ of water. We had been trying in about a 100’ before. Within a half hour Carolyn had a fish on and then it took a few hours and a few different spots before I got one. Both fish were 37” long but Carolyn’s was heavier than mine. The charts for halibut say that a 37” fish should be close to 23 lbs. We went back to the anchorage we got blown out a few days ago and got to cleaning and prepping fish.

Day 86; July 24: We got up and went to Santa Anna Inlet about a 6-hour cruise. We have a lot of fishing boats outside the anchorage. They are the larger Purse Seine boats. I think it is Pink Salmon they are after.