An Unplanned Trip to Valdez

Day 2

Last night we discovered a minor problem with one of the batteries on the boat.  More of a comfort problem than a real problem to worry about.  But either way you slice it, we needed a new battery.  The Captain and I discussed our options; head back to Whittier to buy and install a new battery and head back out, head back to Whittier to buy and install a new battery and go home early, or head to Valdez to buy and install a new battery.   Since we haven't been to Valdez in our Alaskan adventures yet, we decided to go.  

Little Man woke up at 4:30am and would NOT go back to sleep.  Trying every possible option for about an hour, we finally gave up and decided to pull anchor and start the trek to Valdez.  First stop was to pick up our shrimp pots.

A little back story:  We have not had much success with shrimping.  This season is our first and last month when we headed out with Sun Dog they attempted to teach us how.  We learned how to fill the bait, lock up the pots, set them on the line, attach the buoy.... aaaaannndddd  apparently our line was too short because a few minutes later there was no buoy to be found.  The line we had must have been to short and the weight of the pots pulled it under.   Oops.

Our next trip out we set the two pots we had left and came up with starfish and mud.  No luck there either.

Needless to say,  I hadn't left any meal planning "open" due to doubt of actually catching anything.

Back to the morning of Day 2:  We pulled up to our string of pots and waited and waited and waiting while hauling 600 feet of line back on board.  Finally the first pot appears and we have SHRIMP!!!!

This string of pots brought up 77 of them!!!  Whoohoooo DINNER!!!  

In the middle of pot pulling I spotted this off the starboard side:

Another whale!!!  Since we still had a pot in the water we couldn't chase to get closer to this one.  But he had it's own special way of saying "Good Morning":

Ahhhh... that right there made it worth being up with Little Man soooo early.  

Lover Boy finally woke up and had this reaction when we told him there were shrimp onboard:
 

Getting closer to Valdez coming past Glacier Island we were once again graced by the giant beauties of the sea.  Two of them this time:

There was also a sea lion playing in our wake while we were stalking these whales, but he was so darn quick I couldn't capture him on camera.  Fun to watch though!

We set our shrimp pots again, pulled into Valdez Harbor, walked to the parts store, hitched a ride back with our new (very heavy) battery, and left The Captain to install it.  Someone told us if the kids went to the Harbor Master's Office with their life vests on, they would get a ticket for free ice cream!  So the three of us headed out on an ice cream mission.  After getting our ticket and finally finding the ice cream shop, I had three happy monkeys on my hands:

Shrimp Pasta dinner on the boat and after much debate we decided to make a late night departure from Valdez Harbor hoping to be underway while the little ones were sleeping to leave in order to have as much fun tomorrow as possible!