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Melissa & Dave - Adventures at Sea

The weather prediction was for what?

We start out from Ketchikan at 7:30am and the water is smooth as a baby’s butt.  Last night the weather prediction said today should be light winds and smooth seas.  But they changed it sometime during the night.  There is now a small craft warning up and they are predicting 15 to 20 knot winds and 4 foot seas.  Hmmm.  Doesn’t look like that.  So we agree to keep going, but with several options for early anchorages along the way should the day turn nasty.  A few hours later, sure enough, the forecast is revised (again) to light winds and no seas.  Ha!  Just knew it – we are patting ourselves on the back for not buying the forecast that was so obviously wrong.  It continued smooth for most of the day.

That is till about 3pm when the winds started to kick up on our tail and created some 3 foot following seas.  Not unsafe, and actually pretty much comfortable for the most part.  None the less, the trend wasn’t going the direction we wanted, and the direction of the winds would make the anchorage we had planned to stop at less than comfortable for the night.  So we decide to divert to Coffman Cove a few miles short of our original destination.  Easy as pie, except for the fact that we have to turn to port into the cove – which means turning sideways to the waves and taking them broadside for a few minutes.  Ok, it’s just a few minutes.  We know this.  It’s not unsafe.  Say it with me.  We are perfectly safe.  In a few minutes we will be in a nice safe harbor.  In a few minutes we will be out of the waves.  In a few minutes all will be good.  I swear.  Melissa continues to repeat this to herself over and over.  As the waves start to rock and roll us side to side – 30 degrees each way for a total of a 60 degree roll.  Melissa is super proud of herself that she did not scream.  She didn’t even screech.  She might have yelled “Holly Crap!” but only just once.  But she did not scream.

Coffman Cove is a great little marina.  Filled only with fishing boats.  They are like serious here about their fish.  We head for the bar.  There is one small bar, but they don’t serve any food.  Only liquor.  Melissa figures she deserves a lemon drop martini.  She never drinks the strong stuff, but what the hell.  She sees they have the essential ingredient, Lemoncello.  So she figures no sweat and orders one.  The bartender cringes.  “What’s in a lemon drop martini?  Wait, I think I know this one.  Lemon juice, absolute citron, Lemoncello, and sweet and sour maybe?  Hang on, I can look it up.”  She pulls out her cell phone and starts tapping away.  Melissa says, “Just make me what you said.  That sounds great.”  Meanwhile this has caused a stir in the small bar.  Comments start flowing about the fact that the bar has never before served anything but whiskey and beer.  Dave spots a bottle of red wine at the back of the bar.  He asks what it is.  The bartender pulls it out as if having never seen it before.  Dave asks if he can have a glass of that.  The bartender says with a shrug, “Don’t see why not”.

We strike up a conversation with the locals.  Turns out the guy next to us owns the fishing lodge here in the cove.  Nice guy.  Owns a 32 bed bunk house here.  16 guys are coming in tomorrow to fish.  We ask him how we can catch a salmon.  At first he thinks we are kidding.  Alas…  He does his best to inform us as to how to fish for salmon, rock fish, and other desirable edibles.  None of which do we have proper gear to catch.  None the less, we decide based on our conversation with him that we clearly can’t live without a metal detector for the beach.  At some point a small black and white dog leaps into Melissa’s lap (no small feat given we are sitting on high stools at the bar) and starts licking her face.  She is promptly informed that she now owns the dog.  Melissa retorts that she is not sure the dog would be happy living on a sailboat.  She is told that the dog has grown up on boats and skiffs and would love to sail.  The dog curls up in her lap as if she knows she’s got a total sucker on the hook.

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