Chenega Island, Prince William Sound

The clue should have been late last night when a salmon seine boat anchored right next to us, because at 6 am this morning a salmon opening began and by 7 am there were five seiner in our anchorage. We had planned on leaving with the tide at about 11 am but when we found ourselves being hemmed by seine net we made a quick departure. Welcome to Prince William Sound.

Since our arrival in Alaska six weeks ago, we had spent most of our time on the western half of the wild, isolated Alaskan Peninsula. Until we reached Kodiak Island we had encountered only one other yacht, having anchorages all to ourselves. And we've been amazed at the amount and variety of wildlife for viewing - brown bears, bald eagles, sea otters, whales (humpback, orcas), seals, red fox, and a variety of sea birds. And we've been feasting on Red salmon and halibut. Crossing Shelikof Straits to Kodiak Island brought us back to civilization.

The month of July, normally with good weather, was tempestuous on the Peninsula. The weather forecast kept changing daily making passage planning difficult. We had been on Nagai Island south of Sand Point when we got a forecast for 45 k westerly winds, so we headed back into Sand Point to wait for it to pass. But each time we'd see a window coming up the weather would change and we'd continue to wait. After a week in Sand Point we finally got a break and headed to an anchorage 30 nm east where we'd anticipated being able to continue on in 2 days. But once again the weather forecast changed - in one day we picked up anchor and moved 3 times with each 12 hour change in the forecast! With a strong westerly we were finally able to advance 150 nm to Port Wrangel, a fantastic small anchorage totally surrounded by high mountains and waterfalls. And the following day a light SW wind took us another 100 nm to Geographic Harbor, another incredible inlet in Katmai National Park.

Fortunately the day we arrived we had time to put the dinghy in the water and explore the large inner bay because after that the weather took a turn for the worst. A NE gale was forecast and we spent 2 days and a night hanging by our toenails in 35 k winds and williwaws up to 45 k! Every time we'd get hit by a williwaw, we'd heal over and start sailing on the anchor, and thought surely we'd break out the anchor and drag. Very stressful. But Tamara held tight!

The plan was not to spend time on Kodiak Island this year but save it for next year. But we did make a 24 hours stop and go to get fuel, fresh provisions and check internet at the Library. Good weather was forecast for crossing the Gulf of Alaska to Prince William Sound (200 nm) and we made a fast departure. Six hours out of Kodiak we got our first sighting of Orcas - one large male, five females and a baby!!

We're now back in Mark's old stomping grounds and will enjoy the next couple of weeks before making for Cordova. We intend to base Tamara in Cordova as it is the north country we wish to cruise, and from our point of view, journey's end on our 44,000 nm odyssey that began in 2000 in Fort Lauderdale.

Ciao, Nancy and Mark