We had talked abut making a trip up there with Steven's skiff.
Having the skiff to run around in while staying on my boat sounded like it would be fun.
For this trip we had my grandsons Tyler and Bryan, Tyler's friend Luke, and stepson Steven.
We left Bar Harbor about 8:30 AM on Saturday, taking Steven's skiff in tow.
Several years ago I had purchased a professionally made tow line with sliding shackle at the Seattle Boat Show.
It worked out real well, and the skiff trailed just fine.
Towing a skiff is always a calculated risk.
If the weather were to kick up it could make it impossible to bring the skiff back to town.
We had checked the marine weather and were fairly confident that the weather would be fine for towing both on Saturday and on Sunday.
We got to the dock at Marguerite Bay about noon.
There were no other boats at the dock at that time, so we pulled up to my preferred spot, which is on the left side of the main dock as you face it from the water.
I pulled in with my bow facing out, and I stuck out just a couple of feet past the end of the dock.
The front of the dock is for loading and unloading only, no long term mooring, and there are signs to that effect posted on the face of the dock.
Once we got secure at the dock we had lunch on board.
The next order of business was to prepare the crab pots and the shrimp pots and run out in the skiff to set them.
Normally I would prep them on the trip out and then drop them before tying up to the dock.
But now having the skiff, we were able to set them from the skiff.
Tyler is at the helm, with Steven in yellow behind him.
Bryan, the one looking very worried, is to Steven's side and is wearing bright orange.
Luke is in front of Bryan in a black jacket.
Apparently no one under 15 has ever thought of wearing a hat, or rain gear, even though as you can see from the water behind the skiff, it was raining pretty hard by now.
About 1:30 PM the float planes started arriving.
I knew that would be happening.
There is a bear and fish viewing platform about a mile up the logging road, and at this time of year various tour operators fly tourists off the cruise ships in, take them up the road in vans, and then take them down to the viewing platform.
About 2 PM, when the kids came back in the skiff, we had a brief unpleasant encounter with a float plane pilot from Taquan Air.
He was miffed that we were at the dock, making it more difficult for him to pull in there.
He said, "This is a float plane only dock."
I told him that was not the case.
Then he said that Taquan Air had built the dock, which I knew was not true, since it is a USFS (US Forest Service) shared public dock which is available to anyone on a first come first served basis.
I confirmed all of this with the USFS after I got back to town.
They said they would talk to Taquan Air and ask them to brief their pilots about this.
There were other carriers other than Taquan Air, but Taquan was the only one that was outright rude and aggressive towards us.
One of the pilots from Mountain Air was very friendly and we chatted on the dock for quite awhile as he waited for his guests.
By now the kids had come back with a few fish to show for their efforts.
I'm surprised Bryan allowed himself to be photographed holding that tiny Turbot.
Luke and Tyler are holding decent sized Sea Bass, and of course Steven is holding a small halibut.
Next we got some gear together and walked up the road to the bear and fish viewing platform.
It is a good logging road, so the walking is pretty easy, but it is about a mile up the road.
Once at the cut off to the platform you take a gravel trail that meanders down through the woods eventually ending up at the platform.
This time of year there are fish a plenty in the river, and so the bears are there in abundance.
It was hard to get up to the viewing spots near the front of the platform as they were plugged with tourists most of the time. You had to watch for an opening and then jump right in when one became available.
Steven got in trouble with one of the "guides" because he went off to the side of the platform into the brush, so he could get a better look. She said he wasn't allowed to do that.
I told her he was an adult, and this is a national forest, and he can go wherever he wants.
Guess I'm getting crochety in my old age.
I heard one of the "guides" tell the tourists that whales don't come into the bay because it's too shallow. Wrong!
We continued our walk up to this first bridge.
Steven immediately began catching trout from the bridge.
It's about 15' or so down from the bridge to the creek.
Hard to tell that Tyler is holding a small trout.
Hmm, what are these guys doing?
We made our way back to the boat, and the kids went out right away to check the crab pots.
4 "keepers" were taken, which we cooked there on the dock.
That evening after dinner we had a great fire on the dock.
We sat there munching on crab and the kids were roasting S'Mores over the fire.
In the early evening, after the planes had stopped for the day, a commercial troller came in and tied up across from us on the other side of the dock.
They were already gone when I got up the next morning.
The kids went out in the skiff and pulled the crab pots for the last time, yielding only 1 more keeper, which I cooked right away on the dock.
They bottom fished for a short time with no luck.
We left the dock about noon, and headed right to the shrimp pots.
We had lots of trouble with them, as they hung up on the bottom, like an anchor.
We tied the line off on the stern cleat and applied some pressure from the boat's engines.
Eventually they came free, but we lost the first pot on the line, and the second pot had a hole in the web.
We did get about a dozen shrimp, which was meager reward for so much work, and the loss of a pot.
We put the skiff in tow and made the long run to town, arriving about 4:30 PM.
It was a fun trip.
Having the skiff there with Steven to supervise the kids made it extra special.
I asked Tyler what he wanted for his next birthday, and of course he said "A skiff!"
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