Lane on Santa Cruz Island

VFP Chapter 54 member Lane Anderson has begun his latest adventure on the High Seas.

We have received a handwritten log from Lane, covering his stay from November 3 to November 11, 2009 at Forney’s Cove on Santa Cruz Island.  In sending the log, Lane has requested that  anyone going near Forney’s Cove please bring him marine stove alcohol, instant oatmeal and instant cocoa.  The log was given to a passing fisherman, who mailed it to VFP members Joy and Gil Robledo, who transcribed it for us as follows:

Pelamis, CF5545, 26’ sloop

Departed SB on Wed.,Nov.3, 2009 @ 9am and sailed on a close reach to Forney’s Cove arriving 3pm. Anchored in 25’ and secured boat. One fisherman came in at sunset 5pm. Slept. Went ashore Thurs. and walked tp West Cove. Sea was calm and fox signs everywhere, but no foxes. Fox poop has evidence of insects, going through trash, sml. Crabs, cactus fruit and scods. There is a large white cross above West Cove w/ the name Steve Crombie on it. American Oyster Catchers were having a party in West Cove, which is so often pounded by sea scas. Their brilliant orange bills would scan a warning to the little crustaceans that they probe sand for. When (2 words unreadable) the birds do a dance and peep loudly as they retrieve crustceons.

I’m drying things out and started fishing, catching 5 fish immediately. After catching 2 more quickly, I left them in a bucket of sea water until I was ready to eat them. I ended up turning the healthiest 2 loose. On Friday the big from a storm in Alaska arrived and the anchorage got a little bumpy. I’m alone now, fisherman staying in port. Big scas are breaking over Fraser Point. I (unreadable) boat

Saturday, Nov.6. Went ashore and walked to Fraser Point to watch scas come in. Big seas are smashing into Fraser Point sending spray 60-80’ over the peninsula. The 20’ scas march past the cove, visable over the low rocks to the SW of FPt.  Wrap around swell is making the cove rough and at high tide some swells come over the rocks, but it is a safe anchorage. Cormorants and seals were diving and frolicking in the turbulent scas as they ran onto the rocks.

The fishing remains good, small makerel being easy to catch. I’ve learned to put them in a bucket in sea water until ready to eat, then I cut their throats and put them in a second “blood bucket” to bleed out. Then I poach them in fresh water. I eat as many as I want. The stars are lovely with several dark hours before moonrise. The comfortable place for starwatching is on a big sail bag on the forwardeck.

Sunday, Nov.7  I secured the boat and kayaked to shore, prepared for a hike to an old water tank where I hoped I could track water lines to a spring. The tank is a couple of miles east of Forney’s on a simple dirt road.

Nov.8: There is a running creek just past the old tank, which is empty of water. The creekbed is crowded with shrubs and small trees. The water will need treatment or boiling. The tank is roofed w/ flat steel roof and I climbed up and took a nap.

Since Wed. night I have been the sole resident of Forney’s. Life on the island brings back many memories of years ago. On my return (to the boat), scas from the south were breaking where the kayak was beached and I was rolled in the surf 3 times trying to return to the boat. Not seriously hurt, I finally got to the boat and resolved NOT to beach the kayak there again.

Monday,Nov.9: I’m sore but healing and will sew cushions and read today. Today the sky is cirrus and looks like various sorts of fish scales. (Have I eaten too much fish?)

Tuesday, Nov.10: Measured anchor (…?) and went ashore to walk to a shack below the road and about a mile SE of Forney’s. The shack has a solar panel, battery and lights and cooking equipment…ready to use. I’ll call it the little house on the prarie. When I returned, there was a crab fisherman in the cove, so I kayaked to him and asked if he would mail a letter to my son. He asked if I wanted some crabs. He wanted to give me 10, but without ice I could only take 5. I ate the claws first. (He took them off since he had to put the crabs in the kayak with me). The claws were delicious! I’m reading Jose Marti.

Veterans Day, Nov.11: I ate the crab legs and one crab last night, put one in a bucket of seawater and 3 in a game bag. The ones in the game bag escaped, but I ate the one in the bucket for Veterans Day along with 4 fish. Crabs have the sweetest flesh of all animals, even sweeter than lobster.

The sweetest is not the claws, but inside the carapacs. I did some minor improvements on the boat then went ashore awhile. I found the foundation of an old stone bldg. near the cove. The front doorway faces across the channel to Santa Rosa Island so likely it was a home. It looks like it dates from the era of Justinian Caire, a rich Frenchman who had a mediterranian-style estate on the island, and owned it. Caire produced fine wine and olives on the island but prohibition nearly ruined him. His heirs sold 4/5ths of the island to Dr. Carcy Stanton, an environmentalist, who lived on it for decades and then gave his 4/5ths to the nature Conservancy.

(to be continued)