We enjoyed exploring around our home waters near Juneau. Adventures included a May trip around Icy Straits and into Glacier Bay with our son Scott – a magical experience where we nearly had the bays to ourselves due to being early in the season and no large cruise boats due to Covid. John and Kristy then took the boat south from Juneau visiting many lovely anchorages circumnavigating Admiralty Island and the east side of Baranof Island.
Raynad now sits for the winter in Slatter Harbor at Auke Bay in Juneau, Alaska. For the past 12 years, she’s been a wonderful home for us as well as a safe mode of transport which has allowed us to explore the most amazing unique places of the Pacific Oceans. Raynad carries enough fuel, water, food and other provisions to allow us to linger in isolated or remote areas of the world for months at a time.
We’re now transitioned to a land based home in Juneau, Alaska. This boat is best as a full time cruiser. She thrives on those long ocean passages and lingering days in beautiful remote bays or atolls. It’s time for us to let her be adopted by another couple looking for some adventure on the oceans. S/V Raynad is FOR SALE. There is no better or safer boat than SV Raynad, nor one that I’d have rather spent this precious time on. SV Raynad will always hold a very special place in our hearts and memories.
Check out this link if you’re interested:
https://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/94838
Haines Harbor and made our way 12 mi on a gorgeous sunny day to drop anchor next to Sullivan Island. This is one of our favorite anchorages with towering peaks, glaciers, bears, sea lions….a perfect start for summer vacation.
May 29, 2015
May 30, 2014
June 2, 2014
We had a lovely evening with clear skies and totally enjoyed our anchorage just across from the glacier. Unfortunately as the tide went out, all the ice bits from the head of the bay came our way, including several larger bergs! With dreams of waking to a beautiful morning gazing out over the waters to a calving glacier, birds and wildlife around us….etc….we decided to just move our anchor a bit and stay the night despite the ice.
Not the best for a restful night. We both were up and down most of the night worrying over one particular iceberg that seemed determined to stay with us – what was at first a beautiful sculpted berg that not only looked like a swan but even had a couple of eagles perched upon it – John had taken lots of photos of it while were motored my.
Finally at 5am, it was too much and too risky with the tide yet turning again and the swan looking more like a menacing dragon, 
we lifted anchor and are now just floating about waiting to see the big event of a large chunk calving off the face of Margerie Glacier.
We enjoyed a glorious day just lingering around waiting for the ice to calve some of which were pretty dramatic.
Sunny view over St Elias Mtns
Really exciting and we were up close enough to see them without binoculars, although it was super cute to watch the little billy goats (kids) with their mothers:)There were two of them jumping around and trying to keep up as their mothers just walked up and down over the ledges – amazing world these little guys are born into. One of them got so tired, he just laid down when his mom finally got to a flatter spot.
We’re anchored just around the corner from where we found them and are hoping for another look in the morning, or maybe even to see them cross over to our side for the morning sun.
June 5, 2014. We’re in a unique anchorage spot right now – not one listed in the guide books, but hopefully ok for the night. It’s lovely though with the sun shining in the cockpit – GTs have been had on the deck and slaw salad eaten there as well:) Nice to have enough wind to keep the bugs away, yet a hard-dodger to shield us.
Raynad is sitting in glassy water in Adams Inlet – Glacier Bay National Park. It is 9am and we are on our second cup of coffee, sitting in our cozy pilothouse with the heater on. Out of the windows, the clouds are low and there is drizzle at times – very like the Weeping Glen – Glencoe. Kayakers have just slipped bye like Special Forces making a landing on a forbidden shore. We caught a big halibut last night but it got away – we will try again this am. Once we leave here we are looking at doing a four day passage across the Gulf of Alaska to Kodiak and maybe on along the Alaska Peninsula to Sand Point.
June 11, 2014 58-37.52N/ 136-18.84W
Loved the “free” miles. At the same time, a couple of whales suddenly started breaching and flipper/tail slapping, obviously feeding on the salmon that we have yet to be able to catch.
It was an incredible show for about 15-20mins. There is something really beautiful about the whale body jetting up out of the water, turning in the classic pose and then falling back into the water. Really amazing. We aren’t seeing great volumes of wildlife, but we’ve definitely had some very unique sightings.
We’ve seen LOTS of whales – breaching, flipping – amazing shows. The place is active with marine life – dolphins following us, sea lions, harbor seals, porpoise and always lots of birds. It’s been a great afternoon – very unexpected. John just finished taking a photo of a beautiful rainbow with intense colors. We’ve 2 miles to go before we can anchor. Enchiladas are in the oven. Still no fish for us to eat yet – bummer – we just keep losing gear.
June 15, 2014 58-15.65N / 136-19.81W
June 27,2014 57-52.50N/ 152-38.00W
June 30, 2013- 57-43.07N / 153-20.83W
We’ll be over in Larson Bay tonight. It’s a favorite of the Kodiak people and hopefully we’ll get some fishing in over there. It’s a bit sparse so far. Even the commercial guys are complaining, so it’s not just us. We haven’t really tried much as we’re pretty busy moving about and exploring once we get to places.
What a diverse day it has been – we started early this morning with calm seas and good weather motoring our way down the west coast of Kodiak Island past lots of long sandy beaches, fishing boats at every cape and even breaching whales; a couple of hours later we put up the sails and enjoyed some brisk sailing for only about an hour before the buster started building and we were heeled over flying at over 9 kts, great speed, but that was only the beginning of the winds and seas, so we reefed the mainsail and pulled out only the staysail, yet we were clicking along at 8kt. 
Because we were coming away from Kodiak Island with a shift in winds, the seas became irregular and quite uncomfortable; now we are once again motoring with only a light winds behind us. With Mozart on the stereo, we are enjoying the spectacular vistas over the many mountains of the Peninsula, especially grand is Mt. Chiginigak -a glacier clad volcano of 8000ft coming nearly strait up out of the ocean. We’re just over half way on what will likely be a 24-26hr trip. I’m hoping for a long and beautiful sunset over the mtn ranges:)
We have walked the long beach where we saw a hungry, skinny Red Fox with a big bushy tail, whom we followed along the spit as he/she eventually found a weasel carcass to chew on. The beach is strewn with massive amounts of timber, rusty old ship bits, old fishing nets, fish and bird skeletons….
No luck with those, but within 5 minutes we had 3 cod-like fish (not yet fully identified) ranging from 5-7lbs each – good for some fish and chips type eating. Despite additional attempts, we just kept catching these buggers, so that was that! Not bad eating, not nearly as good as we’ve become accustomed to though:) Woke to a beautifully clear morning, so made our way out the south channel only to be met with increasing winds. Had some good sailing, some rough stuff and eventually ended up headed into these winds and swells to round all of the capes and make our entrance into Fox Cove. Not the protection we’d hoped for, but ok. Tomorrow we will travel the remaining 36 miles (5-6hrs)to Sand Point where we’ll meet Scott Saturday night! He leaves Portland on Sat AM and is able (weather permitting) to make it all the way via Anchorage to Sand Point, arriving at 6:45pm:) Sun is still shinning, we’ll hope it continues for Scott’s visit.
July 12, 2014 – 55-20.03N /160-29.78W
July 14, 2014- 55-35.57N /160-35.82W
July 16, 2014
We had a late night having gotten into this bay about 6pm, Scott did a bit of fishing (caught 3 sucker fish, one we kept for bait) and I made pizza which we followed with a late movie. Everyone slept in so it’s now 11am and we’re just getting done with breakfast! Lazy buggers! Going to launch the inflatable and do some exploring of the beach/valley. No signs of wildlife other than a few birds. I guess we’re just in the wrong area for viewing bears on the beaches and otters in the water. Could have chosen better, but we didn’t know. There is no cruising guide for this area, just the pilot guide about anchorages for commercial boats. I doubt that more than a handful of boats come into this bay each summer. Commercial fishing has been super slow along the Peninsula which has everyone worried.
These are the fishing grounds for the Chignik Tribe and until they catch a certain number of salmon, no one else can come in to try and last we heard hey hadn’t caught a single fish in Chignik!?!? The Sand Point fishermen are fishing around the Shumagin Islands and have done alright there, but still under the usual. The distances are great here and with the uncooperative winds….it’s tough for us to move to a different region with Scott’s short visit. Yesterday we motored the 6 miles out of Balboa Bay with the wind gusting off and on between 15-25kts just off our port bow, but as we turned 120 degrees around the Cape, the wind just kept following us close on the nose and as we turned another 30 degrees to set our course, the wind stayed on our nose – go figure!?!? So, motor, motor, motor into the wind and seas we did for the 26 miles up here. Scott slept the whole way. We thought of heading off across the waters to a different anchorage, but with the west winds in the forecast, that would have meant getting headed and having a rough return, plus we’d been there and those bays were much more exposed with no special features. At least the scenery is very unique and stunning here. We might try to go into deeper water and see if Scott can drag up a halibut or something larger and more exciting for his birthday:) There is also some drift wood on the beach and I have hot links, so might do a bit of a beach fire. He wants chicken curry and lemon pie for his birthday supper – so that’s what we’ll do.
I caught a big halibut today, about 30 pounds! I’ve attached a small picture. Mum is cooking it for dinner. I also caught a cod and two rockfish.
We met two people who were monitoring salmon. They gave us a live sockeye salmon! We invited them on the boat for awhile during my birthday. We also got to see their place and how they monitor salmon. Mom made some chicken curry. There was a vast beach where they stayed at where I saw a mother bear with three cubs and a male bear. There are a lot of puffins and seagulls in the ocean. I’ve also seen glaciers and there are a lot of mountains. The only negative is that everytime I go hicking through the grass, I get allergies. I am doing well.
Now it’s a sunny, windy morning with coffee and fresh sourdough bread. We’ll head back to Sand Point (30miles) today since Scott leaves tomorrow night on the 7:30pm flight for an all-night return to Portland.
July 19, 2014
A good day yesterday…lots of whales which we had not seen before and a huge colony of Horned Puffins absolutely filled the air. We sailed between the whales and the puffins – pretty nice. Scott was up on the bow snapping away with his camera. He was really excited about how close the whales kept coming to our boat (we were sailing.) Rather than go into Sand Point, we came around the east side of the island and are anchored in Fox Hole. It was on our way here that we had such a great showing of whales and puffins. Commercial fishing boats are all round so we’ll drop a line or two in the water on our way around to the harbor (about 8 miles) and hope to bring up something exciting:) Scott’s vacation has gone all too quickly. He leaves tonight on the 7:30pm flight and go all night arriving into Portland at 5:30am to start work on Monday.
Unga Island (Sand Point) where we sailed through pods of Humpback and Fin Whales and an enormous colony of Horned Puffins on High Island. After Scott caught another large Pacific Cod following breakfast, we trolled around the other side of High Island and enjoyed even grander views of the puffins (literally thousands of them – they looked like a swarm of bees!) plus a large group of Sea Lions lounging in the sun – boy did they put up a fuss when we showed up, but only two of them left their ledge. Then as we came around the island, a bunch of fin whales were feeding and just kept coming towards our boat, one swam literally right under the bow where Scott was watching! It was amazing,(even a bit scary) they just loved hanging around the boat. I’d stopped and they sauntered away, but when we started up again, they came back!?!? Scott got some great photos even with his small little camera and was super excited about the whole encounter. It was a terrific finish for his holiday and made John and I feel so much better about our choice of journeying all the way across the Gulf and rendezvousing with Scott in Sand Point. He’s now on Penn Air and headed to Anchorage for his red-eye trip to Portland. It sure was nice having him on board and getting a chance to share some unique experiences.
Fox Cove – Depart in am to cross Gulf to Sitka – 5-6days
May 2, 2013
It’s a gorgeous sunny morning with promises of more days like this to come:) We are looking forward to having Jodie on board again and will do our best to make it a relaxing and fun trip for her. As an Emergency Medicine Resident at UW in Seattle, she as been smashingly busy and overworked. She’s been instructed to come ready to chill out and take in the soporific motion of the boat while gazing out over Mt Baker, the Cascades and even the Olympic Peninsula serenaded by screeching seagulls!
May 4, 2013
Dropped anchor with the sunset! Had to use my headlamp to see what I was doing. Happy Hour, wine dinner, sleep… Cheers!
Looking forward to some great time with Jodie for a couple of days.
May 6, 2013
May 7, 2013
May 9, 2013
We awoke this morning in our quiet little bay to find the clouds down on the water around us, so it looks like a good morning for another pot of coffee/tea, a bit of reading and maybe even a little local exploration in the dingy?? A funny contrast to our evening passage into 27kt winds with wind against tide – not fun and totally unexpected! We decided to shorten our trip and take refuge back behind the islands. I made more sourdough yesterday – it didn’t want to rise but eventually the two small baguette type loaves actually grew a bit and I threw them in the oven while making dinner only to forget I’d done that and turned off the gas before they were finished- argh!! Heated it up again and they are ok, sort of, but would have actually been great if I’d paid them more attention and set a timer.
May 12, 2013
May 18, 2013
It’s really amazing with the cliffs of Black Mtn climbing straight out of the bay up to 3010ft with cascading waterfalls, eagles soaring around and so many other interesting birds. No bears yet. I think that we will set our alarms to wake up at 5am and go hiking up to the lakes and try to take in all of the enjoyment that we can before all of the cruise ship traffic arrives. We might just wander about the various fjords and then come back here and hope that the buoy it once again vacant for tomorrow night. It really is a special place.
May 19, 2013
May 20, 2013
with a steep hike up the hillside to get a great view over some of the torrential, cascading falls in the Punch Bowl. 
We’d hoped to hike all the way up to the lake, above the cliffs, but there had been several landslides and the last part was so steep and torn up, we decided it wasn’t safe to continue on. After some tea and rest, we dropped the mooring buoy about 1pm and made our way to Walker Cove, an incredible narrow fjord with steep 3-5,000ft cliffs literally rising straight up out of the water!
John got some good photos, never the same, but still really nice. AND the sun came out a bit for us, the clouds lifted enough so we could see many of the mountain/cliff tops – it was magical.
May 21, 2013 
May 23, 2013
May 23, 2013- continued
We also met MV Polar Bound! John was ecstatic when he saw that boat at the dock – bright yellow, it’s impossible to miss!
We enjoyed the company of David and June, he is quite a famous British polar explorer having been the first to navigate many or the routes through the Northwest Passage.
May 25, 2013
May 26, 2013 – FISHING!!
May 26, 2013 -Anchored
What a long full day we had: scenic beauty and exciting fishing. It’s great to be back in Alaska:) – gorgeous sunny day again!
All was perfect until the “Alaskan Story” a luxury boat charter came into the bay and anchored just in front of our view! Oh well. Lots of bears, first a mother and two cubs, then what looked like two young male juveniles who spooked away the mom w/ cubs and then half-heartily followed their trail. Later in the evening a couple more bears were in the meadows. 
We’ve really enjoyed our time here and since we arrived at about 2pm, we had ample time to watch the bears and explore around in our dingy.
May 29, 2013
May 30, 2013
LATITUDE: 57-17.25N/LONGITUDE: 135-35.15W
July 25, 2013
July 27,2013
Cedar Cove in Freshwater Bay after 12 hr 90mi day!
HAINES, ALASKA (August 2013 to May 2014)
Nothing like time taken away to appreciate this simple, carefree moments. Nonetheless, the zero and minus temps predicted for the winter may really drive us to move the boat southward. In the meantime…it’s been great to have the time together.
While there, the sun came out and we watched the magical effects created by various shafts of sunlight. Seems like there are many, many lovely bays for us to visit just around Kodiak Island.
Meanwhile, we are surrounded by rafts of sea otter, they are huge and really cute. We’re in Dry Spruce Bay where there is a defunct cannery and other abandoned properties, including an old wrecked and grounded dock complete with utility hook-ups. No wind today, so we’ll wait until the 15-20kts forecast for tomorrow to make our crossing over Shelikof Straits to Geographic Bay. We’re hoping to celebrate our 30th anniversary on July 3rd amongst the majesty of glacial peaks.
We awakened this morning to the sounds of rain on the pilothouse and now over morning coffee, are watching four bears on the beach! The same two as last night have come back with the low tide and there is one on each of the two other distant beaches.
John and I were just reflecting this morning on some of the exotic locations we’ve been for our anniversaries. Of course the best and most celebrated will always be our 25th on top of Kilimanjaro. This 30th is good, but a 19,000+ peak together with Jodie and Scott, is hard to beat:)
Awakened to the sounds of rain pummeling down on the roof – seems today, like yesterday, will include many cups of tea! I guess after 30 years something has to bug you – turns out that my slurping of tea and other hot liquids is, “making my hair fall out,” says John!?!? Funny though, it’s really hard to drink hot stuff without a bit of slurp!?! Like yesterday, a mother and older cub are grubbing along the low tide. They’re lovely to watch – poor things must be absolutely soaked through and through. It’s really cute to watch them digging away.
No fireworks or parades for us on July 4th – we’re just hoping for a few breaks in the clouds. This place would be absolutely stunning in clear, sunny weather. Since the forecast is for high winds and rain, and since this is an extremely well sheltered anchorage, we’ll probably just hunker down here with our little propane heater, lots of hot tea, good food and company, and the occasional forays out to explore our environment.
We both enjoyed a very relaxed day yesterday with John reading cover to cover the Atlantic Monthly while I finished one book on the Nook and have nearly finished another. Our anniversary dinner included a late afternoon tea of homemade apple pound cake with vanilla ice cream consumed with hot rum:)
We’ll likely get together with them later for drinks and eats – will be nice to have a bit of socializing. The best weather we’ve had so far was at midnight last night! Go figure, it cleared alot and the sky became many lovely hues of blue, with shafts of sunlight shining low through the valleys, calm and no rain. That’s why we were so surprised to see the rain back this morning, we’d thought after the beautiful clearing that we’d awaken to clear skies. This is a magnificent place, but with the low clouds and fog, it’s more like a scene from Tolkein.
We enjoyed the company of our neighboring boat yesterday. They had us over for tea/coffee mid-day and then they all came over to our boat for evening drinks/snacks. It was really fun to have new people to socialize with for a bit. They too will be here today, so we’ll likely get together today too. One of the crew women, Lisa (age 64,) was a fashion designer in Montreal, Canada. The other crew, Kelly (44,) was a real estate agent in Florida, but has done lots of cool outdoor stuff like climbing Denali and trucking through Africa! The owner is Danish and he designed and had custom built a beautiful 65 foot aluminum pilothouse boat – it’s really lovely. Unfortunately, his wife has given up the cruising life, so he is alone on the boat with his adventures and various crew. He and John enjoyed talking about boats, engines, design, etc., while I had a lively discussion with Lisa and Kelly about travel, extreme adventures, etc.
July 6th – Geographic Harbor, Katmai Peninsula
We were happily the first ones to spot Mr Big Blondie Bear this morning and so enjoyed our own private viewing from the safety of our dingy as he walked along the stones at the waters edge going between meadows/beaches. Big old guy that bear. Now there are two planes – a Grumen Goose and Beaver, so the BearZoo has begun. Not sure what happened with the bears we saw having a bit of an encounter – makes me wonder what bear stories we’re missing in the dense brush. No intension of investigating though! Thinking of you, but not planning on a visit to Harborzoo:) Colder this AM, hence the pot of tea.
Funny Story:
July 15, 2012 (58-22.89N /152-16.54W)
Throughout the night we had gusts from the projected gales shaking about, good thing we were snug and safe. After morning coffee, we lifted anchor only to find a large ball of kelp wrapped around the anchor…many chops and trials later, we set out to shoot through Marmot Strait with the incoming tide. Getting the tides is a significant timing issue here – make the tide and we cruise at 9+kts, miss it and we struggle to maintain 2kts. We’re learning though and so enjoyed 9.8kts through Whale Passage and 8+kts through Marmot:) Now we’re relaxing with the slow sunset in tranquil Seal Bay, way down deep into the cove and a skinny inlet. Once again, Captain John forged ahead despite the chart stating 2m depths, and we’re safely anchored in 5-9m of water.
Just had an unexpected visit from the Afognak Lodge aluminum charter boat filled with crew and friends(we’d thought it was a marine research base, but were wrong.) Nice group, although they gave us a bit of a startle as they came roaring up asking us for our permits and licenses!?! Of course with beers in hand, they hardly looked serious, but potentially irritating. A fun group of young people, the makers of the boat up from Port Angeles and the lodge crew – no guests today so they’re partying. We’ve been invited for dinner tomorrow night.
No we are not hung up on the low tides, nor are we still partying with a boat full of people. Just me and John venturing from bay to bay. We met a man in Kodiak who retired at 47 (he was an ophthalmologist) and spends 6 mos of every year up here. He recommended several spots which we are busy exploring. Some have been a bit of a stretch since the maps do not give information on many small bay areas….but we haven’t ended up high and dry yet!?!? It’s really lovely and peaceful here, no other people or boats. We were visited by a rowdy group from one of the fishing lodges a few nights ago and then they roared up to us as we were leaving and gave us a big red snapper!! I guess they took pity on these poor old farts who can’t seem to catch anything. Good eating though:) Tonight is stew night, the pressure cooker is gently spitting and I’m hoping the meat will be duly tenderized. Any and all pressure cooker tips/recipes will be appreciated.
We’ve just dropped anchor in the lovely Big Bay on the western side of Shuyak Island north of Kodiak. After motoring down the east side of Shuyak with super glassy water and being entertained by lots of feeding humpbacks, we enjoyed a gorgeous fast romp with the tide through the narrow Shuyak Strait hitting speeds of 11.8 kts! As we cleared the straits, we were rewarded with a view of the very impressive Alaska Peninsula on a sunny clear day; the grand snow covered, glacial peaks are spectacular – how lucky we are to have a clear day! 
We could even see the tops of Mt Augustine, Mt Iliamna and Mt Redoubt volcanoes at 10,000+ feet with Mt Douglas just peaking over the horizon – it’s broad, white glacier covered top shining out from the bluebird sky. As we dropped anchor, three deer decided to swim across from the small island in front of us to the other side of the bay. It all promises to be yet another special day:)
July 19, 2012 – Big Bay, Suyak Island
July 20, 2012 (59-24.87N / 151-42.81W)
We decided to move on across Shelikof and Cook Straits to Seldovia. What we ended up with yesterday was a crazy, scary day starting first at 2:30am when our anchor lost hold during gusty winds and we had to reset it in the dark – neither of us really got sleep after that and then at 6am we set out on a very tidal passage through the narrow channels and bashing through the waves coming out of Big Bay – wind against tide heading into not just the 25kts predicted, but also what quickly became 40kts of wind. At first we headed north on a fast broad reach with the tide pushing us from behind. A bit rolly, but ok and we were happy to be making such fast progress. We had anticipated this tidal current so were happy. Passing the Barren Islands and crossing broadside to Kennedy Passage however, we got hit unexpectedly with a strong 3kt west setting tidal current from the Gulf against the already 40kt winds which created some awesomely steep, short waves. Scary enough that for the first time, Captain John who had already suggested we harness in, also decided that we should put the companionway boards in and none too soon as we nearly got knocked down! What a moment to have the boat pushed so far over, and then thanks to her great stability factor (LPS- limit of positive stability,) she came back up before getting hit again. For a few hours we had lots of water over the foredeck and waves clumping into the stern splashing us with water, but Raynad kept on going. Shortly thereafter, John suddenly shouted – “Oh my God it’s a whale right there!” and we watched helplessly as it tried to dive beneath our bow, then either it or another whale, seemed to roll itself along the hull of our boat. We saw one giant flipper over the starboard side next to John’s shoulder, then a long,white whale belly nearly the length of our boat, then another giant flipper and finally a tail came up just at the stern like something out of Moby Dick – I thought it might crash down on us, but it just dove deep – we think. No sounds or feels of impact, but that was so incredibly and unbelievably close, we could have shook hands with it. We really hope the whale is ok. There was absolutely nothing we could have done, especially while under sail with no warning and in such tough conditions. Throughout this trip, we’ve had some close encounters with whales, but when the seas are calmer, we can see them coming and at least try to avoid them, not so with this one.
Once we entered Cook Inlet toward Katchemak Bay, the weather calmed and believe it or not before reaching our destination, we actually had to motor! Go figure – one moment we’re in death defying waters and the next we are nearly becalmed!?!? We were so glad to at last enter Seldovia Bay and drop anchor at 8pm. A couple of drinks and we were lights out exhausted from the long and unexpectedly exerting day passage. 15 hours of sleep later, we’re enjoying hot coffee and looking at the spectacular views through the heated comfort of our pilothouse windows:) We took the side panels off, so we have only the glass windows. This boat was truly well designed for this climate and even without the safety panels, the windows survived the test of yesterdays wave bashing. Off to explore the town!
So here we are in the most incredible bay – steep cliffs, trees, waterfalls…..AND the sun is shining. After a touchy pass through the rocks (we actually launched the dingy and John went scouting ahead) – we are safely anchored in Taz Basin! So, out come the GT’s (of course:) BUT it’s the last bit of tonic:( Nonetheless, John had to use this moment of dryness and sunshine to chip off paint and work on the rust (go figure!?!??) but while looking for bits….he found TONIC!!!!!) Knew you’d appreciate that. Secret stores win the day!!!! Yes, I have had a couple. Yesterday was misery itself, so today is so, so, so appreciated!
While John was chipping and grinding…I went out in the dingy and hopefully got some good photos, but mostly just enjoyed my surroundings. The hills literally fall with water. Little lovely waterfalls cascade everywhere.
July 25, 2012 – Northwestern Fjord (59°25.20’N/ 150°33.98’W)
The vistas are impossible to truly photo – Thunder Cove with it’s massive waterfall tumbling over the cliffs, plus about a 1000 other cascades of various sizes falling off each of the many surrounding cliffs. We anchored for the night in Taz Basin a small, deep hole surrounded on 3 sides by towering cliffs with trees and shrubs clinging to every crevice and the entrance made via a frighteningly small opening between the rocks! The beauty and sun were so overwhelming, we just had to open GT happy hour and soak up the moment:) It wasn’t long though before we were both energized to action – John fixing some paint work (chipping, grinding, painting) while I motored around in the dingy trying to get some good photos. Exhausted after our early 5am starts over the past few days, we were both snoring by 10pm and missed the midnight sunset.
July 26, 2012 – Current Position – 59°47.94’N 150°01.06’W
Two smallish cruise boats came mid-day, but after they left, we’ve had the entire place to ourselves. Some great photographs:) Even toasted the day with GT’s made with glacial ice – Captain John went out in the dingy to get the “perfect” photo of Raynad, while I maneuvered her about, per his instructions.
Tough job getting good ice, without seal poop, and not too hard to chip off. We really enjoyed several hours of afternoon sunshine while watching the seals on their ice flows and gasping at the occasional ice calving. The power of nature is truly humbling. Safely anchored, the sun is still out. A huge fog bank raced us up to the fjord this morning and then has lingered all day, let’s hope it stays back for at least the evening. We are SO glad that we didn’t hesitate, but just took off from Taz Basin a couple hours earlier than expected, because just after we left, we watched the fog completely fill and surround our beautiful anchorage! Life is good:)
We are having several amazing days amongst the glaciers of the Kenai Peninsula. Yesterday evening was magical as we were so close and looked out at several different glaciers, red striated rocks islands, ice flows, seals…very special:) Today we left the beautiful blue Northwestern Fjord and ended up transitting through patchy fog, our visibility alternating with each mile. Sometimes it was mystically beautiful, other times a bit scary and blindingly white, then the vista would suddenly open. A bit frustrating since what we were passing through was some reportedly unique scenery of granite cliffs, Puffin colonies, sea lions, etc…We ended up having a sunny and relaxing time bobbing about Paradise Cove for our lunch, trying to catch a fish (nada) and then making our way over to the Holgate Arm glacier after the cruise boats left.
The sun was out and John even put on his Speedo suit to go out in the dingy amongst the ice chunks and take pictures, get more GT ice, and just have fun. A couple of kayakers were also bobbing about. Eventually we motored up and made our way to this lovely anchorage nestled in a cove of waterfalls and looking out over the glassy water to the glacier across the bay. This is the quintessential Alaska that everyone pays the big money for and I guess was also what we were looking for when we made the decision to leave the hot, white sand beaches of the South Pacific and sail the North Pacific oceans!
Anchored Thumb Cove after cold, rainy day
Fox Farm Cove just outside passages into PW Sound
Seven Fathom Lagoon inside Jackpot Bay
August 6, 2012
Sunshine broke through the clouds this morning which made our short trip over to Eshamy Bay and Lagoon very pleasant. We came into our anchorage while entertained by the Stellar Sea Lions on the rocks and otters furiously eating, dropped anchor and then watched a couple of black bears:)
August 10, 2012- 60-35.70N /148-14.71W
We caught a HALIBUT!! We set out this morning in absolutely down to the water clouds/mist with my mind set on fishing for halibut (nothing to lose, the day was gloomy already!?!!?) We found the spot, set our anchor and started to jig. Two rockfish later….a halibut took hook and off we went~~!!!!! It was a comedy scene for sure as both John and I struggled to get this thrashing beastie under control!! Kristy realled it up to the boat, near the swim step….zing…off it went over the horizon (much worry about the actual length of our line) back up to the swim step…zing…out again. Fortunately John was by this time harnessed in and ready for battle! Halibut lost – John won. Pretty scary what he can do with a gaff!?!??
Some very impressive ice sculptures! Nothing to match the size of the blocks we saw in South Georgia (Southern Ocean) – those were often the same size as large buildings. Because the bergs tended to accumulate more on the west side, we were able to carefully make our way all the way up to the glacier! 
It was like stepping back into the Ice Age. Very impressive the power of scrapping glaciers to score the surrounding cliffs. We took lots of photographs, but by the time we made it to the top (about 12 miles,) it was getting late and very cold, so we came on back down the fjord and then up a side finger into a lovely anchorage protected behind a mound of old moraine. The icebergs are jammed along the other side – a bit like a train wreck. We enjoyed a super gorgeous, long sunset – 
more pictures – we just can’t stop trying to capture the beauty and yet it is so vast, none of our photos really do it justice. Finally with the dark (not until nearly 11pm,) we settled into sleep, John setting his alarm to try and get up for some sunrise photos. Half way through the night we were startled awake by an ice berg bumping against our hull and the snap-crackle-pop of brash ice. John ended up pushing the hulk away with our boat hook! A bit cloudy this morning, so no sunrise photos. We have miles of moraine to walk and explore, so today will be a hiking day! I’m really looking forward to stretching my legs out a bit.
After some lunch, we took the dingy out around the moraine point puttering amongs the giant wreckage of icebergs – very surreal – and then took another long hike, about 3-4hrs, up around and about the moraine. Lots of seabirds and an incredible assortment of really tiny flowering vegetation. 
Fulfilled and tired, we gathered yet more glacial ice for our drinks and came back to relax in the cockpit and eat another dinner of halibut:)
We woke up to an absolutely beautiful day and couldn’t even think of leaving the Columbia Bay/Glacier areas. We went for two more long hikes – the morning one for nearly 5 hours! It’s just been fantastic to at last get out and walk – in fact we could have just gone on and on and on!!
There is alot of history to the bay we’re in because the English and later the Russians valued the easy access of this bay to not only a rich source of sea otters, but also it’s ease of navigation using wind. Bad for the otters and the local native tribes – lots of bloodshed and violence – especially from the Russians. Now the Native village looks really lovely nestled amongst the rock formations and long sandy beach. The otters have robustly recovered (several met our boat as we came in to anchor,) and we even saw a big brown bear up by the river. I have my binoculars ready to keep looking for more:)
Woke up this morning after a good long night’s sleep to find a big brown bear on the beach. He must be the papa to the two cubs we saw on the beach yesterday.
August 26, 2012 ( 57-19.24N / 135-47.18W)
; COURSE: 196T; SPEED: 7.3
We’ve set off under sunny skies with northwest winds to sail around Mt Edgecumbe and into Sitka!!
We toasted our safe arrival and made a toast to you as well, then enjoyed a lovely evening sunset from the cockpit. Avoiding the “real world” we spent the night on the boat and are now up for coffee with a full day’s/week’s list of to-dos.
SUNFISH in Queen Charlotte Sound!
It sort of resembled a combo shark/halibut with lumpy skin, flippers like a whale, and seemingly missing its back quarter which was just scalloped off – not really a tail. The first one was pretty large and looked half dead. We then spotted a second one which must have been the “baby” and it actually sort of swam/floated about with an occasional flipper-flap. John took a bunch of pictures, so we’ll show them to you. Just as the sun finished setting, the wind kicked up and we took off sailing – quite nicely for awhile….then the fluky stuff started with winds up to 30kts, lots of gusts, a few direction changes and building seas. Neither of us is getting much sleep – John is snoozing now but we’ll both need to work on the navigation up the strait.
‘Ripple Rock’ in Seymour Narrows – Fascinating !
Cruising up the NaPali Coast at sunset in flat calm – Stunning ++
I checked the forecast this am. We left Hawaii in 22’C weather and are now at 18’C Over the next 7 days the temp will drop 1’C every 12 hours to 4’C. We will still be 500 miles from Kodiak! Maybe Jodie should send me her Ice Hammer?
Yeeehaw! rode through the storm, hurricane force winds!
5am. Its light outside – fog. Motoring @6.6 kts against a 1kt current. Snow all over the boat with drifts filling the cockpit. Every now and then ice falls off the mainsail and clunks on deck. Dark inside the boat because the snow clings to the pilothouse sun shade and obscures the light. Using Radar and AIS. Too cold to be outside. Radio’s do not like wet snow so AirMail connections precious and hard to get. ETA at this speed means we will arrive in the dark.
