Sundown Sailing Adventures

I have to confess that I have some misgivings about this trip to Alaska. The scenery gets more breath taking, but the resources get more scarce. The farther north we go, the more I think I’m developing a case of fuel insecurity…as in diesel for the boat and food for us.

To mitigate the first, we top off our diesel tanks every chance we get and carry an extra 10 gallons in jugs. When it comes to fresh food, we’re becoming creative foragers.

Clam diggers

The other day, after hiking out of the woods at the head of Melanie Cove in Prideaux Haven, Desolation Sound, we found a clamming crew raking Manila clams out of the muck of the low-tide beach. I’ve never seen this before and couldn’t let a learning opportunity slip by, so went into investigative reporter mode and began asking lots of questions of a couple of the professional clam diggers. They described the process as they stooped over their work. Soon, the boss came over and I thought I was busted for interrupting progress. Rather, he handed me a mesh bag and invited me to collect clams alongside his crew. So nice and what fun!

Clam chowder and sautéed sea asparagus

Then, on our dinghy ride back to Sundown, we were hailed to Maui Time, a beautiful Carver power boat owned by a couple from Comox, British Columbia, who were anchored in Melanie Cove with us. Bruce and Hillary welcomed us aboard, provided freshly brewed coffee, delightful cucumber hors d’oeuvres, and a bag of prawns they caught and flash froze a couple days before. We talked about our families, fishing and U.S politics…we had no explanations about the latter. We hope our paths cross again so we can return their gracious hospitality and perhaps have more reasonable answers to their questions about presidential candidates, how presidents interact with Congress, etc.

Sea asparagus and hummus appetizers

Another day, we struck up a conversation with a woman on another boat anchored in Melanie Cove. We talked about food and how expensive groceries will become as we continue north (when we can find an open market). I mentioned I’m especially concerned about getting fresh produce, since plants are the basis of my diet and then she told us about sea asparagus (also called American Glasswort), bless her heart! It abundantly grows in tidal marshes and is there for the picking. We harvested a couple pounds of sea asparagus that same afternoon. Raw, it tastes a bit like salted celery and would be a good salad ingredient. We enjoyed it sautéed with garlic.

Siberian kale

At Blind Channel Resort, Jennifer, the matriarch of the place who has a bright green thumb, shared some of her Siberian kale with me. She taught me that even the flowers are edible; they taste like broccoli. We enjoyed our stay at the family run marina very much and highly recommend it!

Clay shucking oysters

I recently also got a lesson in oyster collecting and shucking by watching Clay. After deciding a bay we were in was clear of red tide or paralytic shellfish poisoning warnings, he went to shore at ebb tide and gathered himself some large, rough looking shells and proceeded to pry them open to scoop out the delicacies they held. Well, he thinks they’re delicacies. I’m not really an oyster fan, unless we’re talking oyster mushrooms. We came across a bounty crop of those during one of our forest explorations and ate them for days.

Oyster mushrooms

Now if we could just figure out where to capture some Dungeness crab in our new crab trap. And Clay has a new fishing rod; he hopes to catch a salmon or Ling cod. The lures for those are about the size of trout I caught as a kid in the Rockies. And that’s no fish tale!