Sunday July 25, Ninilchik Beach, AK

Ian has had a great day, a very successful fishing trip and he has come home with 2 really nice halibut. The boats are launched from the beach with huge tractors, the skipper and passengers already aboard and the trailer is parked on the beach ready to be put back in for the return trip.

There were 8 on the charter plus the skipper and deckie. They fished 13 miles out from shore and were there over the turn of the low tide. These are huge tides, with the water really flowing strongly so they needed 5 lb weights on their lines just to get them down to the bottom, pretty hard work hauling them in. They arrived back mid afternoon with 20 nice halibut on board, the largest weighing in at 30+lb, then the crew and helpers set to and filleted the fish. We have kept quite a bit fresh and frozen the rest, Halibut is the most beautiful fish to eat, I am looking forward to a good meal of it tonight….with the lemon juice! Won’t need meat for awhile.

It was raining for a good part of the morning. I took the opportunity to have a catchup on housework.  There was a family of bald eagles flying near the cliff, it was exhilarating watching them glide around, and the young birds seemed to be playing games, dive bombing each other.

Decided to shift and spend tonight camped right on the edge of the beach, a great spot with the waves rolling in. At least it is not raining, or blowing a gale, but it is very overcast and the temperature has reached about 13 degrees!

LATER…. A drizzly rain came in so no cooking outside. My mouth was watering for the halibut. Turned on the generator and baked it in the convection oven, just with salt and pepper and a bit of butter, then some lemon juice squeezed over it…..unbelievably good