Dear Friends,
For those of you still checking in to this blog I caught the outgoing tide from
Cordova east bound and spent the night in a place called Hole-in-the-Wall, a snug wind protected anchorage connected to Simpson Bay by a narrow tidal channel. The seas were also building late in the day and I was getting tossed around enough to want relief which I found in this place. In a straight line I was only a few miles from
Cordova.
The next day I made it to Bear Trap Bay near the east end of Port
Gravina. A lovely spot with lots of jellies floating just beneath the surface. They had an ethereal presence that brought to mind micro cosmic nebulae in living pulsating form as they drifted with the tide straining the water for food with their long tentacles.
I went for a hike on a nearby hillside and got soaked in the wet underbrush before climbing higher into more open alpine tundra. Higher up I looked back and saw a black speck moving. I soon recognized a black bear crossing near the route I had just traveled. As I watched another emerged. They were still lower and far off but moving in my direction. At some point they must have gotten wind of my lingering scent trail because they bolted for a short ways which took them east away from me. I was headed for the summit of the nearest peak but turned around when the terrain got considerably steeper and
brushier where I ended up.
The next day I spent mostly motoring in either calm conditions early or a headwind later. It got rough crossing Sheep Bay. I found a place to wait for better conditions in Devil's Cove or some such. I took a short hike around a small island enclave of very old
Sitka spruce. I love old trees and these were real veterans. One had a plaque that said eagle nest tree. It appeared the only residents this year were crows from the scolding I got.
The seas was more settled with an approaching front when I returned to Wave Dancer and set off again. We rounded Knowles Head in nearly calm conditions heading for Port
Fildago named for its early Spanish discoverer. I managed a bit of sailing toward the end of this roughly five mile crossing into Landlocked Bay. This is another superb piece of real estate. A lovely waterfall cascades off the mountain at the far end. I also didn't have the place to myself. There were three other more luxurious craft tied up together. I tucked in behind an island and didn't see them thereafter but did hear them leave the next morning.
There were a few dog salmon near the mouth of the stream feeding into the bay but they weren't interested in anything I threw at them before I left. The rain that began in the evening ended to my relief.
The next afternoon I anchored out near the Aleut community of
Tititlek and walked into town. I stopped at the council office and Marcia
Toteamoff let me use her phone to call a Fairbanks friend to arrange for a pickup in Valdez. He would drive my small truck and trailer from there to meet me in a couple of days.
Marcia was an Army veteran and had recently moved back to the community with her son. I learned from her that the people now living here and in
Chenaga had originally come from
Nuchek where I had stopped. There is no longer a community there. She was planning to go with her son to the two week spirit camp held there in mid-July.
I anchored up the for night or so I thought at an anchorage I had been to before on the east side of Busby Island. It was sheltered from winds out of the southwest. I forgot that even when calm here there were some slight swells into this anchorage from the more exposed east side. About midnight I'd had enough rocking back and forth however gentle and pulled the anchor to look for a more protected spot. Coming into this one I had seen another nearby possibility and headed into a cove with a bit of a dog leg to it.. The tide was in and I anchored in eel grass near the end. I didn't mind if we ended up aground with the tide out as it happened. That's the beauty of a small boat that will go where big boats can't. I left the rock-a-bye-no-sleep swells behind and slept good.
In the morning I heard crunching on the shore in the intertidal zone and peaked out from under the edge of the tent canopy. From a distance I thought these creatures were sea otters but when they came closer and scampered into near underbrush they turned out to be a family, I presume, of land otters. It was way cool and special. I haven't seen many land otters in all my time in Alaska.
It was calm the next morning with wind building later. I headed west toward Pt.
Freemantle but changed my mind and headed on a more northerly course. The plan was to overnight in Sawmill Bay and meet my friend Frank in Valdez late the next day. There was enough wind to sail and not being in a hurry I did just that. I motored around green buoy number nine marking the edge of the shipping channel to photo sea lions sleeping on its above water flat top base. They didn't seem to mind my near presence.
Some distance off from Sawmill Bay I could only see at first a tiny black speck breaking the water every so often. As I sailed nearer it turned out to be a humpback whale breaching. There were no other boats around and it was a gloriously sunny day. I liked to think it was jumping for joy because it kept at it. When I was much closer I could see its long white front fluke raised out of the water like a sail as it lolled around near the surface. There may also have been a minke whale with it. I didn't get too close for obvious reasons approaching silently but close enough to get a good look at a huge creature breaking water making waves.
Sawmill Bay I ended up sharing with a couple of other boats but I anchored up again in the eel grass shallows, aground when the tide was out in the early AM when I got up. It was also raining. I put a line out for halibut at the entrance to the bay as I left but quit after an hour without a nibble.
It was a cold ride into Valdez with boats of all sizes coming and going through the Narrows. Closer to the harbor I was surprise to see a distant tail fluke of a whale sounding.
Frank showed up about 6:00 PM. It was still raining lightly when we finally pulled out of town on the road home three hours later. Frank said it was sunny north of Thompson Pass on the way in and we could find a place to park my camper pickup for the night. There would also be fewer gnats bothering away from salt water. We were home by mid-afternoon the next day
POSSIBILITIES AHEAD? it may seem that these trips are just about having fun. And there is that element to them. But at another level I have needed time in the solitude of a wild place free from the usual distractions to listen and discover where I'm being led next.
While I can only generally describe what came to me in the course of this journey it may be enough. My personal circumstances are changing and I will need another place to call home. I will not abandon Fairbanks but I may well be spending less time here.
Fukuko will continue to need help to stay in our house here.
In
Cordova I met Dario who has been there more than a year with his wife Sabina and four children.. They came from Switzerland in a large aluminum sailboat with Top to Top written on the sides. He has a web site at <
toptotop.org>. You can check it out for more details. In brief he's a climatologist trying to raise awareness about climate change and visiting schools along the way.
When we met he was ailing from what to me were
symptons of
giardia he contracted on a descent from Denali drinking river water on the hike out.
We talked about the possibility of a tsunami debris clean up project on the outer coasts of Alaska involving the local community and children including those from Japan. It would be
Cordova based. There would be an environmental education component to it, There has been some local efforts at clean up but this is a potentially huge project with miles upon miles of litter strewn on the outer coasts of Alaska. Details and uncertainties remain.
As an initial step in this direction on my part I am looking for a live aboard
bluewater capable sailboat for at least two adults and possibly one or two children. A boat is a practical solution to the high cost of living in
Cordova, one of the few harbors with slips available.
With bigger plans than a bank account I would be willing to consider a project boat to buy if it was not a basket case and take years to get underway. If you or someone you know just happens to have a sailboat of some size spending more time at the dock than sailing I'd like to talk further with you or them about what arrangements might be possible for its use on a project of this sort. Peace Rider Don can be reached at <
ridefortheplanet@
gmail.com>. And thanks!
