Trapper’s Cove, Adak Island, Aleutians May 29, 2012 7:30 PM 51N47 176W49

Our arrival night was THE calm before THE storm. The wind picked up the next day and by evening we had 55 knots on the anemometer, with gusts above (65 knots would be hurricane force). The water in our little trapper’s cove was smokin’. In the gusts Silver Lining’s rails were in the water. Our CQR anchor that cruising magazines love to hate, held fast and the front edge of the low passed in the night. We’re sure glad we weren’t at sea for that one! Although we’re not sure how much of the wind we experienced, was the venturi effect playing off the mountains to the east of us. Maybe it would have been fine at sea. We spent the next two days onboard waiting for the other shoe to drop (the backside of the low), it finally blew through yesterday afternoon – nowhere near as vigorous as its leading edge. Sorry Gart and Deb, I think its next stop will be Homer.

We finally set foot on land today. We did not make a graceful addition to the landscape; with many layers stiffening our joints, our wobbly sea-legs bouncing off the land, and those man-sized hillocks of dead grass tripping us at every step, the caribou must have been rolling on the ground laughing. I’m sure I saw 4 hooves kicking in mirth over a rise. Luckily the dead grass made for soft landings as we wobbled, veered and fell, slowly making our way up to what looked like the remnants of an old WWII radio shack (100 yards from the dinghy). Then out of breath and hungry, we stumbled back to the dingy, and sped to the boat. Living in a 45-50 degree cabin (10C) sure builds an appetite, can’t blame the tummy rumbles on exercise. The excursion did warm us up though, and I now speak ptarmigan (it’s very similar to ptoad). Tomorrow we plan to get to the top of the rise on the other side of the bay (maybe 500 yards), to see the waterfall. Or maybe we’ll sail around and watch from the boat, wouldn’t want to overdo it.

xoxomo

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Trapper’s Cove, Adak Island, Aleutians May 26, 2012 12:42 PM 51N47 176W49

I think this will stand as one of the more memorable landfalls yet. Early yesterday, a thin faded line of snow tipped peaks split the horizon, separating the textured shades of sky blue-grays and sea green-grays. We watched those mountains rise out of the ocean all day, their surface roughness deepening as we approached. At about 15 miles out, rolling mounds of tan-yellow hills appeared below the peaks. Throughout the day the wind eased and swung around from our bow to our stern; a gradual daylong shift from slamming into the wind to flowing with it. The wind gave us a last gentle shove toward Adak Strait before petering out altogether. A dense black flotilla of seabirds parted to let us through, some diving, some rising in dark clouds around us, a few puffins bobbed in and out between the crowd. A rising tide pulled us through the channel at a fast 9 knots- to port the smooth conical red and white sides of the Kanaga volcano rose to it’s chimney where billowing clouds of steam blended with the ropey gray sky, to starboard the grassy mounds broke into shear cliffs at the channel’s edge, stellar sea lions basking below on the rocks under the gray. A lone fishing boat circled a mile away. The curtains of high fog and clouds rose and fell to expose then hide views of Adak Island’s more jagged peaks to the east. We tore along the strait with no wind, the calm seas at the beginning of the channel rose into cresting breaking waves of tidal rips toward the end. Looking at the water, we appeared to be standing still, but the GPS showed 7-9 knots. A few meters into the Bearing Sea, the rips calmed, we turned to starboard, stowed the sails, and motored down “The Race” into a new “Bay of Islands”. A waterfall visible beyond “The Race” and “Hell’s Gate” was unlike any I’ve seen, it was not the vertical foliage-framed falls of the tropics which carve a deep V in the mountains, but instead an arcing white flow of water racing over the top of round bulging rock hills, in a field of yellowed grass. It’s now hidden from view, but we plan to explore it once the predicted weather system passes.

At the entrance to our little cove of refuge, we had the quintessential Alaskan greeting committee: bald eagles stood sentinel on either side of the entrance, a caribou grazing by the shore startled at our two masted approach to his treeless world, a red headed ptarmigan in full brown and white breeding plumage flew low toward us for a closer look before arcing toward the shore, and a small group of eider ducks took wing over long strands of kelp snaking on the surface at the water’s edge. We dropped anchor here in Trapper’s Cove at 7:45, a full two hours before sunset, three hours to nightfall with the long dusk here. Frank seared some Ahi, opened a bottle of red, well fed we then fell into bed. Islands of those now huge rolling yellow mounds surround us and can protect us from any wind on the compass rose. Last night there was none, not a breath, not a sound, not a movement – total silence allowing us a long, deep, and dreamless sleep. This morning when I unglued my eyelids, I could see puffs of Frank’s breath, evidence that he had not frozen during the night.

Hello Alaska!

xoxomo

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The Aleutian Terrace 25 May 2012 06:05 50N43 177W24

We should be anchoring before sunset on the west side of Adak. Just in time, there is a low coming, and we’d rather be on the hook, than out at sea for this one. We’ve had great luck dodging these, were slipping between two right now – one to the east one to the west. Radio email has gotten to be nearly impossible. I tried many times to get one message out last night, and it finally just went through, so I’m hoping this one will too. I expect once we’re behind the cliffs we’ll loose it altogether.

This ocean smells like whale’s breath, and there are more and more birds about.

Fewer letters equals faster send, so that’s all for now, and possibly for awhile. I’m off to wake the captain for his watch.

G’night! xoxomo

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The Aleutian Terrace 25 May 2012 06:05 50N43 177W24

We should be anchoring before sunset on the west side of Adak. Just in time, there is a low coming, and we’d rather be on the hook, than out at sea for this one. We’ve had great luck dodging these, were slipping between two right now – one to the east one to the west. Radio email has gotten to be nearly impossible. I tried many times to get one message out last night, and it finally just went through, so I’m hoping this one will too. I expect once we’re behind the cliffs we’ll loose it altogether.

This ocean smells like whale’s breath, and there are more and more birds about.

Fewer letters equals faster send, so that’s all for now, and possibly for awhile. I’m off to wake the captain for his watch.

G’night! xoxomo

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The Very Chilly Northern Pacific 23 May 2012 21:19 48N29 177W19

Greetngs across to the Pacific Northwest! I’m thankful that these latitude 40s aren’t as roaring as their southern brethren were last year. We’ve had good wind, 15-20 knots, upwind sailing, but very little swell so it’s been comfortable. We’ve only had to reef a few times. Our new fleece lined rubber fishermen gloves were a happy Hawaiian acquisition for that job.

We’ve made it over that hump where the navigation software flashes “3-4 days ETA” for days when we knew it was really more like 6-7. It’s now down to flashing a steady 1.5-2.5 days, and we are oh so ready to leap around on land.

Radio email is getting harder and harder to receive and transmit. When we arrive, I’m not sure how easy it will be to get signal especially with land masses around. And it will be a few weeks before we get to Dutch Harbor our first likely chance at internet. So don’t worry if we go silent for awhile soon. I’ll try to be better about writing what we see when we get to land this time and save it up for when we are able to send email easily again. I know many of you are as curious as we are about this remote corner of the earth.

I know it’s summertime up here, but we’ve all gone into hibernation, and are hiding in our quilts. It feels like my days are spent either on watch, sleeping or trying to get to sleep. But I am feeling well rested, I stay close to a blanket though even on watch. When we’re anchored we can turn the heaters on, but we’ll have to watch our fuel consumption since they are propane, and eating takes priority over a toasty cabin till next we refuel.

xoxomo

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The Chilly Northern Pacific 22 May 2012 01:19 44N40 174W35

Brrr, I’m not sure if it’s the little lows rolling through or the latitude gained, but it’s colder. The water temp, as measured on the steel surface of the inside of the bilge, was 45F yesterday. We’ve been playing with our infrared temp reader measuring the temp of everything, from the tips of our noses to the cabin sole (currently 58F and 49.5F respectively). Gotta keep yourself entertained. Good thing our electronic weather station broke down, we never would have dug around for the IR thermometer.

We had some wind today, even saw the sun before the fog dropped in again. It’s back to light wind now, with light winds on the nose forecast for the next 72 hours. I’m not complaining though, the light winds give me better sleep, the heavy winds move us foreward, an even mix of the two keep captain and crew happy. Still at our current light wind speed the 430 miles left (as the crow flies) could take another week to accomplish. I’m starting to be very ready for a hike in the hills.

I love AIS (device that sends and receives position and direction data between ships via VHF radio signal). I wish the units were required equipment on all boats. We’ve seen lots of cargos the past few days (“seen” on the computer, visibility has not always been good enough to see with the naked eye). I think we’re crossing the mainline of consumer goods between Asia and the U.S.A. When I’m driving on the freeway, I wonder where all those people are going, so many family, friends, colleagues, appointments, get-togethers, and outings we all have. Watching these tankers go by I wonder where’s all that stuff going, thousands of cars, rubber duckies and iPads sailing the seas with us. As they pass us, those cargo captains have to be wondering, “Where the hell are they going?!” Good question.

xoxomo

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Northern Pacific 20 May 2012 02:19 42N06 171W45

We finally got about 24 hours of 20-25 knot winds, but we’re back down to 5-10 knots of wind, more expected with a low passing by tomorrow. Not much to report. Our days of spending watch in the cockpit are over. It’s wet and cold out there. We used an infrared thermometer to measure the hull temp in the bilge: 50F brrrr. I used the same thermometer to measure the temperature of my finger tips after coiling lines outide…same 50 degrees brrrr. Tea and soup consumption is on the rise. The light cotton Tahitian tifefes have been replaced with REI sleeping bags, and long-johns are now a 24 hour garment. It’s official, we’re going to Alaska.

Crescent City is about 2100 miles to starboard. Hokkaido (northernmost island in Japan) 2100 miles to port, Adak 600 miles ahead. The Aleutian’s come down farther than I realized; when we make landfall, we’ll be about the same latitude as the northern tip of Vancouver Island.

Someone dumped a big bucket of indigo and forest green into That Blue. It’s now a deeper, darker, cooler blue. I don’t think it’s just the lighting (misty gray). And it smells different – strange, but it smells more and more like the sea. Our already erratic sleep patterns are being further interrupted by 16 hours of daylight with more expected each day. Luckily I am getting better at sleeping during the day.

Wind shift, must be our wind on it’s way, I’m off to adjust the sails. A bird is laughing at me in the dark, maybe he’s never seen a peeps.

xoxomo

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Northern Pacific 18 May 2012 00:32 38N07 170W05

Our hopes for stable winds from that steady pacific high have been dashed. The high has been stable, but the winds are light and fluky, from behind then on the nose, from the port, then from starboard. We stop the engine and the winds die down, we tack and the winds push around to that side. It’s amazing that man can control the wind, all we have to do is make a maneuver, and the winds will turn to counter that maneuver. So we zig and we zag and we putt and we coast. The weather charts tempt us daily with wind 100 miles north of our current position, tantalizingly close, just out of reach. But it’s an easy life aboard, I can make bread without bracing myself at all times. And the growing chill in the air marks our steady progress northward. We’ve added socks to our wardrobe, and I’m considering breaking out the long-johns. We’ve put 1000 miles behind us, 850 in front as the crow flies. There are probably a lot more of both miles behind and miles ahead in actual track. Now starting on our 11th day, we are past the halfway mark in miles (still 2/3rds of our fuel left). This will not be a 15 day passage.

We saw a freighter today so we’re officially past the invisible wall of the Papahanaumokuakea sensitive sea area, past the musician’s sea mounts. There is a lot more floating debris than south of Hawaii, but no island of trash yet. We spotted 3 whales very close today Minke we thinke, and the daily Albatross count seems to be on the increase.

Hugs straight across to our Northern California friends, who are probably starting to peel layers off as we add them.

All’s well on board. xoxomo

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Northern Pacific 15 May 2012 04:01 34N06 167W37

We had a classical day today. We’re passing the Musician’s Seamounts, a mass of mounts with musician’s names. Verdi, Bellini, Rossini, Puccini, Scarletti, Donizetti, Strauss, Schubert, Brahms, Dvorek, Stravinsky, Ravel, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Mozart, Handel Maaaaaahler and even Hammerstein and a frenchy Bizet (pour les francaises ou plutot la famille de Frank: “Dorefore ton cul n’ést pas en or, ni en argent ni en fer blanc…”) So we played all we had and sang along when we could (oui on a eu de la pluie apres). I will have to ask my trusty correspondents to research who came up with that naming scheme and when. Elvis and the Clash were not represented. I find it fitting to be passing these as we sailed past San Diego, since Barbara’s radio is locked to the classical channel, our perpendicular greetings from parallel planes included audio.

We were thrilled last night when snap, snap, snap, three in a row, the sun set on our long fishing dryspell. We caught 2 small dorado and one fat 40# bigeye tuna. Frank says the bigeye was a baby (hard to imagine), and the dorado had eggs, so were fully mature despite their petite stature. They were a quarter the size of the Mahimahi we caught south of the equator. Maybe dorado and mahimahi are actually different breeds – same beautiful color and same delicious taste though – yum. Even small there’s still enough for a couple of meals at least. We have to stop fishing for awhile now, our freezer and bellies are full.

Yes I goofed the last post. We were due WEST of Ensenada, not East of SD. We’re now about due west of LA, currently Zuma beach to be more exact. I’m thinking of all our friends there and sending smiles your way. And extra special birthday greetings to Madeleine (double digits! I can’t believe it! Congrats! All grown up and going to the opera to boot, we played Wagner for you today, Die Valkyrie)

I may think it’s cold here, but Gart says it’s snowing in Homer (what are we thinking?? We could turn right any time now and be feasting with friends in days)

xoxomo

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Northern Pacific 13 May 2012 03:57 30N13 168W48

I spotted my first fishing boat tonight, and we had our first fish on (then fish off, sigh) today – the two must be related. The wind picked up this afternoon, but on the nose, so we headed north. We now have a lot of west in the bank – looks like we’ll be able to deposit some more with calm weather predicted ahead. Our position is roughly due south of Dutch Harbor and due east of San Diego. We’re not beating too badly now since it’s calm west of us, making for small seas. As Frank predicted we are able to point upwind about 15-20 degrees better with our new square fisherman (well, not really square its a trapezoid, the old one is a triangle). That makes the captain happy. Turning the engine off makes me happy even if we’re going upwind. The rest of the crew are happy they’re not in school.

It’s decidedly chillier, I’m not sure exactly how much chillier, our electronic weather station just died (just out of warrantee)…did I mention electronics don’t do well on a boat…I think maybe they don’t do well period and warrantee really means death warrant. Our old fashioned barometer works fine, but I have to dig in the kid’s drawer to find a mercury thermometer in their science kit.

All sailing talk tonight, no great epiphanies. That’s what I get for reading trash on watch, when I should be daydreaming.

xoxomo

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