PRO LEISURE CIRCUIT: PRIME TIME IN ALASKA

As many of you know, we bought a boat named PRIME TIME in Seattle right after I retired from the Air Force in 1991and spent a couple of summers on it in Alaska. And what a time we did have. In cleaning out the storage area of our house, the photo albums got looked at. I could not resist pulling some of the old pictures from cruising in Alaska and scanning them. Below are just a FEW of the pictures - click on any picture to get a larger view.

This is our boat PRIME TIME the last summer (1994) we owned it. We are anchored in Frosty Bay on our way to Wrangle, AK. It was just the right boat for Connie and I. We had two staterooms with heads in both, but only a shower in the main stateroom. It was 40 feet in length although the harbor master at Hoonah always charged us for a 46 foot boat because of the bow spirit and swim platform took up that much room at his dock! We had lots of company who came to enjoy the fishing and scenery of Alaska.

We stopped a lot and took hikes where we could. The bears were not out here Anan Bear Observatory, but the trail was nice and it was good to stretch our legs on this hike. You can see I always hiked with a 12 gauge shotgun with bear loads in it. (The plug was out and I alternated #2 buckshot and slug ammo in the magazine.)

The photo here is of a bear track with a 12 gauge magnum shotgun shell in the center of it to give you an idea of how big this bear was. This is the only time I ever took the safety off the gun when we were coming back from the hot spring pictured below and had a bear making noise in the brush above us. Zeke our dog was growling, the bear was snapping his teeth and we were just trying to get around him although we could not see him. He was afraid of Zeke we always said. We did encounter a number of bears in the two years we were up there, most just took off. But a couple of times it made us a little nervous. Zeke was never scared of them though.

This is our boating buddy Zeke. He was born and raised in the Fairbanks area. Alaskan through and through and the smartest dog we have ever had.

This is the hot springs we hiked into. What a great place to spend the afternoon. You controlled the temperature by how much cold water you allowed to come out of the pipe from the creek. I think Connie needed to get out in the sun more. Zeke was pretty good at taking pictures though.

This is Connie's sister on the left and Heather and Ethan who came up with her for a visit. They are doing "touristy" things around Juneau. I know this because I matched the date with my log book from the boat. It reads: "Connie and company did touristy things and I painted the lazarette". There is always more to do on a boat than there is time to do it.

Wendy reeling in a salmon that I am about to net.

I am netting a fish for Heather with ET looking on.

Connie and Ethan when he came up with his grandfather the year before.

Connie with a king salmon.

Ethan with a nice halibut. From my log book - "Left Tracy Arm about 0730 and headed into Fredrick Sound. Got to watch a few whales by Pt. Gambler. Stopped and did some fishing near the entrance of Pybus Bay. Ethan caught the biggest with a 40 pounder. Had to keep one of Wendell's because it swallowed the hooks. Anchored for the night in Cannery cove. The wind was really blowing when we came in."