Pirate Flies Again!!!

Latest News from around the Lodge – October 24^th, 2009

There is a bunch happening at the Lodge during the winter months! Several big projects are underway and Kevin just arrived back in Ketchikan after attending a show in San Diego. Bookings are strong for next year, looks like we will have a strong year, so if you are considering heading back up to Yes Bay Lodge next summer, you better contact Kris and get your reservations in. So far we have over 500 bed nights booked for next season.

Pirate Air Works will be flying again and that is Kevins largest project right now. He has a DeHavilland Beaver completely rebuilt, only thing lacking is a paint job and the interior. It is a total rebuild, with a rebuilt air frame, all new skin, brand new motor and all new or rebuilt electronics. It will be another first class job, paint will be very similar to 87 Charlie (See Picture). Full intercom system with noise reducing head phones and 2 way communication and stereo for the pilot and passengers. Pirate will base the plane at the Lodge and it will be used to fly tours not only from the Lodge for our guests, but will be available for tours originating in town for cruise ship passengers and tourists. I am working on the web site as we speak, look for another email shortly with the new information.

At the Lodge there are several construction projects underway keeping Dewey and Art busy. All new bathroom floors are being installed in the river wing of the Lodge and a new float plane dock is being built on the waterfront. Including a ramp and shed for the airplane since we will be keeping the plane at the Lodge next year.

For those past guests there is a new Customer Testimonial blog where you can leave comments about your experience at Yes Bay Lodge.

Click here: http://ybltestimonials.blogspot.com/

Feel free to leave a comment, we know you had a great time, so let everyone know about it!!

As for me, I am finally back in Florida after an extended trip home, I had a great trip and was able to take some wonderful pictures of the scenery in the Canadian Rockies, Montana, Salt lake City and Ohio.

Check my blog for more details of my trip.

http://captjimtravelblog.blogspot.com/

Enjoy,

Capt Jim

Around My Old Hometown

Tuesday October 6^th, 2009 through Saturday October 10,2009

I have been spending time with family the past few days and will be here until Monday, when I fly home to St Petersburg for the winter.

Today the sun finally came out, although it is getting colder tonight, but at least I could take a drive around the town where I grew up and take a few pictures.

Interesting day, everything seems so much smaller than I remember…

Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

Jim

Kalispell to Salt lake City and beyond!

Saturday September 3^rd, 2009 – Hound to Salt Lake!!

I have come to the conclusion that whenever anyone gets released from either a mental institution or a prison, the first thing they give them is a bus ticket to somewhere and for some reason they were all on the bus that I was on.

It was destined to be a long trip with a scheduled 16 hour bus ride between Kalispell Montana and Salt Lake City Utah – the “Salt Lake Express”!! Not too sure about the Express, but it actually was fairly pleasant…just way too long.

Sunday September 4^th, 2009 – Arrival Salt Lake City

Arrived Salt Lake at 4:30 in the morning and was met by an old friend who worked with me way back in the late 80’s.

My plan was to stay one night in Salt Lake and had flights scheduled to leave on Monday the 5^th at 2:00 pm.

Took a drive to Park City to see my old house and just see how much things had changed, which was significant.

Great Evening – Got together with another old friend from my work days in Salt Lake, had a wonderful barbecue and some great conversation. It was determined (Quite easily) that the three of us were the only ones which were normal and correct in our business assumptions from back in those days! So agreement was declared at least on one front. What a great time it was to see my old friends. These two are one of those small group of “friends for life!”

Good night’s sleep after a few cocktails and conversation!

Monday September 5^th – Salt Lake City to Akron Canton – Ohio.

Flight left on time had an easy flight and connection on Denver, then non-stop to Ohio, which was nice!

Was met by my sister and her husband at nearly midnight, then headed to the house. Late night and good to be home!

Tuesday September 6^th

Went to see Mom at the “home”, picked her up and brought her back to the house for s nice dinner. I spent the day processing some pictures and catching up on emails.

Enjoy the pictures. Several from various points of the trip…look for a summary with descriptions and details when I get to Florida!

Jim

Jasper to Kalispell, MT

Wednesday September 30^th, 2009 – Drive from Jasper Alberta to Kalispell Montana.

Up early coffee then breakfast then start the long drive from Jasper down to my buddies house in Kalispell. First stop was at a pull off to view a beautiful waterfall. Raining and misty so several pictures will need some work, plus it was very cold and windy, so not much time outside the car for picture taking.

Later in the day we stopped again and I managed a nice shot of the view of the mountains, later in the day we found a couple moose beside the road and they were very cooperative, so got some good pictures.

Made the rest of the run which was pretty uneventful other than the view out the car was fantastic the whole way.

Stopped for dinner in Kalispell then to the house to unload and hit the sack.

Thursday October 1^st, 2009 – Around Kalispell.

Ran some errands, bank ect., then went for a drive and found a couple nice places for pictures. More to come on that later.

Friday October 2^nd, 2009 – Bison National Range.

Found some cowboys and some antelope, lots of decent pictures of the antelope, but the bison were off in never never land, so we missed them. Couple nice deer.

More pictures to follow, once they are processed and sized etc.

Leaving for Salt Lake City by bus tomorrow mid-day.

Enjoy,

Jim

Day 1 - Jasper

Tuesday – September 29^th, 2009 - Jasper, Alberta Canada

Checked in to Becker's Cabins last evening with my buddy Jim Flinchbaugh from Montana, we had a quick dinner at AW and unloaded the car at the cabin and made plans for a driving adventure around Jasper in the morning.

Early breakfast after coffee in the room then off along a drive towards a town called Hinton and lo and behold we ran across some sheep right beside the road and also a couple mountain goats. What a beautiful sight…it was fantastic.

Then we chose a loop route which would bring us back around to our cabin, little did we know the road we picked, to get off the beaten path, was a gravel road for nearly a hundred miles. Ended up near a beautiful lake then the main highway back to Beckers.

Great day, not good weather, it rained and snowed all along our route and it was cold and windy, so not too many pictures were taken, but we plan to leave and head south tomorrow towards Kalispell, it will be a long drive with plenty of scenery, hopefully the weather will cooperate.

BTW – Eye is almost back to normal, both of them. So that is good news. Feel much better, infection is gone. Love to know how that came about!!

Anyway, more pictures after I get time to process them, but it will be awhile and of course a book is in the making, so stay tuned…

Enjoy,

Jim

More Fun Today!

Monday September 28^th, 2009

Via Rail – St George to Jasper

I guess nobody has found Godzilla yet and taken that doll away from her. Woke this morning, eye swelled again, maybe worse than yesterday, however, I seemed to have broken fever during the night, which made me feel much better. Until I got up that is, needed a nice shower, no hot water at the Ramada Inn in St George, seems they had a boiler breakdown! Just my friggin luck!!

Oh well, smell like a shoe, goes right along with a swollen face which looks like you should have just spent the night in jail!!

Cab ride to train station, forgot about time change from Alaska, so I am there well ahead of time. Went to visitor center next door and saw this amazing wood carving of a school of salmon, see picture. Then went out and took a picture of our train.

Next picture is of the one stop we made between Prince George and Jasper.

By mid-morning the swelling on my eye had gone down to almost nothing, so I feel and look much better and can see out of both eyes! What a great feeling. More scenery even more dramatic than yesterday as we approach the Canadian Rockies. Beautiful weather, sunshine and blue skies. Every 15 minutes you see something more beautiful than before.

Pulling into Jasper I see a heard of elk grazing right beside the road, this is going to be fun!

Train arrived Jasper and as it pulls into the station, I see my friend there to pick me up, eye swelling is almost entirely gone and no pain, so hopefully one of you people found that miserable last wife of mine (Godzilla) and snatched that doll from her hands, because it seems the hex is wearing off!!

Thank God!

Jim

More updates on our travels around Jasper and on down to Kalispell over the next couple days!! It's picture time!

Is THIS Fun???

Sunday September 27^th, 2009.

Prince Rupert to Prince George

aboard VIA Rail Canada!

OK - $50.00 to the first person who sees Godzilla and removes the little doll she is sticking needles in and destroy it!! This must be some kind of hex the woman is putting on me.

I awoke in wonderful downtown Prince Rupert after a fairly restful sleep and went to the lobby of the hotel for coffee, but not after scaring the beJesus out of myself when I attempted to look in the mirror.

Along with the left eye being blackened by a head butt from a drunken Irishman, I now have some sort of infection in the OTHER eye which has caused it to swell as well and it is nearly shut!

See PIC!!

So, needless to say, I am not going to have to worry about people wanting to sit beside me on the train!

Made the train station on time, boarded the train, laid claim to my seats and settled in for a 10 hour ride to Prince George.

There is no way I can describe the scenery you pass on this trip. It would be very difficult to sleep on this trip as you just don’t want to close your eyes for a minute for fear you will miss something, even with my swollen eyes it was constant beauty passing by the window. Train ran right on schedule, served hot coffee and tea and other snacks for reasonable prices and the seats were comfortable.

One more day of traveling until Jasper, made two stops today which allowed us to get off the train for a few minutes at each station which was interesting, since these stations are literally in the middle of nowhere!

You will have to stay tuned for a book I will be publishing and also a link to my smug mug site when I process and load up some of the pictures I took along the way.

Enjoy,

More on the trip tomorrow as I make the next leg to Jasper.

Jim

The Adventure Begins

Friday – September 25^th, 2009

Well today was another bad weather day, although it seems that Slammers flight did depart Ketchikan this afternoon on time, early this morning Sharon’s flight was cancelled in the morning and now she is not scheduled out until tomorrow morning, so I will be hanging out with Sharon and Dewey until my ferry leaves tonight at 9:30 pm.

Arrived early to board the ferry and was beginning to have a sensitive tooth…so medication was in order, couple aspirin and Gin in the ferry bar seemed in order. Loaded luggage into my stateroom and headed to the bar. Light load on the ferry, not many people aboard, so it was pretty quiet. Windy and rainy, although not near as bad as this morning, so hopefully it will be a pleasant sail to Prince Rupert.

Easy overnight trip, wake up my ship crew at about 3:30 am for 4:30 am arrival in Prince Rupert. Not a very scenic place, especially when you wake up to find in addition to my right black eye, now my left eye is swelled nearly shut. Seems I have an infected tooth or at least that is what I suspect. Thankfully not in too much pain, so it is more swelling than anything else.

Although I look like somebody beat the hell out of me.

Cab to hotel, not a bad place, Harbour View Inn, expected a nice marina, but guess that does not exist in Prince Rupert. Not real impressed with the “Scenic Beauty” of Prince Rupert. Checked into hotel and went to bed.

Took a walk, got some nice warm soup, swelling is a little better this afternoon, can see anyhow. Rain, drizzly weather, not much for picture taking. Rest today and board train first thing in the morning.

Up early again, eye swollen, but not too bad, still no pain, which is the good thing. Cab to train station, pleasant people on the train, boarded and headed for Prince George.

Couple pics attached, of leaving Ketchikan on the ferry at night. More details in the next update later today.

Jim

Last Day at Yes Bay

Wednesday September 23^rd, 2009

Well today everyone except Kevin and family are leaving the Lodge. This is a couple days earlier from planned, however the weather is supposed to take a decided turn for the worse and we need to get to town as a couple people have flights to catch.

So early this morning the Whaler is getting loaded down with crew, luggage and of course garbage for the run into town. If we leave early enough, we may miss the wind which is supposed to blow pretty good today.

No such luck, by the time the boat was loaded we left a little later than planned. Myself, Dan (Slammer), Dewey (Cutter), Sharon and Nicky left the Lodge at about 8:00 am – managed to get as far as Canoe Rock before we got hit with some serious 30 to 40 mph gusts of wind and of course rain. Luckily the wind had not been blowing long enough to get the water real rough yet, but it would over the course of the 1 hour remaining on our trip, so it was a very rough ride at the end as we entered Clover Pass, with easily 6-8 foot seas, howling wind and horizontal rain.

have attached a picture from the beautiful sky on the morning we left the Lodge. Red Sky in the morning, sailors take warning!!

Arrived Knudson Cove marina, was met by Art and a van for our trek to town. Hauled everything up the ramp in pouring rain, had to use tarps to cover luggage.

Headed to respective hotels and watched the bad weather continue all day!! Several had early morning flights on Thursday which were cancelled due to the weather, so most ended up leaving on Friday. Although Slammers flight in the afternoon on Thursday managed to get out.

So the 2009 Season at Yes Bay Lodge is officially over.

Stay tuned for happenings around the Lodge here during the winter and of course stay tuned for the plans for the 2010 season and the re-launch of Pirate Airworks…on the Yes Bay fishing reports blog.

Have a great winter,

Capt Jim

Professor

Yep Shamrock - It still hurts!

A bar room head butt from a drunk Irishman gets worse every day. I can’t wait to get back to Florida, so I can take a drive over to Plant City and even the score…

Buttoning up things at the Lodge continues today with stowing all the porch furniture, finishing all the laundry and cleaning rooms and packing to leave tomorrow for Ketchikan.

Rain and more rain, the river is the highest that Kevin has ever seen it and there is no let up in the rain. It has rained solid for the past 3 days and there is no end in sight.

Hopefully the wind will stay down for tomorrows boat ride into town, although we will be in the big boat, so it shouldn’t be too bad.

Stay tuned for updates around the Lodge throughout the year.

Capt Jim

From the news...

This was taken from the SitNews..

http://www.sitnews.us/

FISH FACTOR: Salmon harvest will approach respectable number; Pinks trounced and Get steamed! By LAINE WELCH - Well, it won't be one for the record books, but Alaska's 2009 salmon harvest will approach a respectable 160 million fish.

We won't hit the preseason projection of 174 million fish, but it's still going to be a good catch in historic perspectives. It's a solid year pretty much across the board," said Geron Bruce, assistant director of the state commercial fisheries division.

The salmon shortfall stems from a no show of pink salmon at Prince William Sound by both hatchery-raised and wild fish. A harvest of nearly 40 million pinks was predicted at PWS this summer, but the catch came in at 16.5 million fish. Statewide, the total pink salmon harvest squeaked past 94 million fish, 20 million less than projected.

A couple hundred thousand chums might still be landed, and the statewide tally was nearing 17 million, not too far off the forecast. Likewise, coho catches are still coming in and likely to approach the 4 million fish forecast.

Bruce said the harvest of 321,000 king salmon this summer was mediocre.- More...
Monday - September 21, 2009

Winding down...and a helluvaparty!

Well the last guests left yesterday morning and it was time to start
breaking down the Lodge and get it ready for winter.

No sense packing up all the booze from the bar, se we as a group attempted
to lessen our work load and have a couple cocktails last night...

It MUST have been a good time since I woke up with a heck of a black eye.
That will teach me to drink with an Irishman...Sean (Shamrock) Hagen decided
that a head butt was in order...missed my head and hit my eye. Yes there was
alcohol involved. But we all survived and most of the crew left this morning
on three boats heading to town.

The only crew left here at the Lodge is; Myself, Slammer, Sharon, Nicky and
Dewey. Plenty of chores to do around here today and tomorrow, the rest of us
are leaving for town on the morning of the 23rd. Then a couple days in town
and then off on my trip home adventure starting the 25th.

Enjoy the pictures of the black eye, last plane out and crew leaving.

Capt Jim

Mad Momma Bear

The dogs ran a mother bear and her two cubs up a tree in front of the Lodge this morning and Momma bear was not real happy. The cubs were so far up the tree that a picture was impossible.

Finally got the dogs (Cinder and Nikko - Karelian Bear Dogs) to calm down and leave them alone so they could come down and scamper off into the woods. The dogs were just doing their job to alert us of any bears around the Lodge and of course keep them away.

Final day of fishing at the Lodge today, tomorrow we clean up around here, see the last guests off and get the lodge shut down for winter.

I have a real adventure planned for my trip home, should involve tons of picture taking so I am looking forward to that...

Check my blog below for details posted a couple days ago.

Enjoy the pictures,

Capt Jim