Fri, Feb 17, 1995. E. wind to 35; 20's
Arrived about midnight with Matt Jones. While damp the boat was dryer than expected. Set up the bunks in the main cabin (when we'd left we had put the mattresses (foam) on the kitchen table to keep them dry), and went to bed.
Sat, Feb 18th. E wind to 35. SUNNY!! 20's
Since this was more of a vacation than anything else we spent the day dinking around. Went and watched the ice climbers in Keystone Canyon; took a tour of the hydro electric plant (48" pipe; 620' drop; 140 ft^3/sec h2o; 8770 hp) and spent the rest of the day reading writting and working on computers (both Matt and I brought one).
Sun, Feb 19th. E wind to 20. 4" snow. 20's (F)
Didn't do much--nice relaxing day. Worked on computers, read, went out to dinner...
Mon, Feb 20th. Snow, E wind to 35, 20's.
Packed up and left.
Sat, April 15. Rain, low 40's
Arrived about 8:30 pm. Other than a missing deck cover everything looks fine (the cover was from over the starboard main cabin bunk).
Sun. April 16. Slushing, low 30's
I took a bunch of measurements, cleaned up the boat and left.
Sun. May 14 Rain, high 40's
Arrived with Scott, Kraig, the moving van w/trailer and my car. Sorted the boat out, fixed up a bed for Kraig in the back and Scott on the port main cabin bunk. Bed after mac & cheese.
Mon. May 15. Rain mostly. Low 50's
We spent the mornint & early afternoon getting the stand for the Red Rover (my 26' sailboat) rebuilt, taking down the mast & otherwise getting it ready to load on the trailer.
About mid-afternoon we went to work getting the van unloaded into the Acrux. We mounted the motor first so we could move the boat to the ramp--making it much easier to load. The van was a little difficult to back up, but we managed to get it place fairly close to the ramp. It took quite awhile to get all the building materials and stuff moved down to the boat. But we got it all done in time to get the boat moved back into it's slip for dinner.
Tue. May 16. Mostly rain. Low 50's.
Loaded the Red Rover on the trailer and spent most of the day securing it. Scott bought us lunch at the Halibut House, and we got back to the Acrux about 4. As we were all pretty much worn out we took a nap! We got up around 6:30 and spent the evening working on the Acrux.
Wed. May 17. Rain showers, W wind @12.
We spent the morning and afternoon getting ready to leave. We did some least minute shopping, unloaded a few last items from the van and worked on the boat.
The motor mount had been bending the transom so we removed the top 2 bolts and bolted on 2 pieces of 1/2" plywood to provide extra support. While we had the motor off Kraig re-worked the prop, which was badly mangled from the previous owner.
By 6:30 we were ready to go. After a quick stop at the fuel dock we were under way. There was a headwind so we motored all the way to Sawmill Bay. Dropped anchor about 9:30, fixed up the 12 volt lights, had dinner & went to bed.
Thur May 18. Rain showers; SW wind @12
Spent the day motoring and sailing to Landlocked bay. Rained in the morning and evening, with a little sun at mid-day. Kraig piloted most of the way, while Scott and I stripped the fittings off the deck, undid the screws on the windows (but left the windows in place) and ripped off most of the old fiberglass {note: when this refers to deck, I am only talking about the area over the main cabin}.
Fri May 19. Sunny. Calm.
We got under way mid morning. Scott piloted while Kraig & I finished stripping the deck and built edgings around the deck perimeter.
We arrived in Cordova mid-evening. Tied up at the transient dock and Scott & I biked up to his folk's house and visited with them a couple hours before returning to the boat & going to bed.
Sat May 20. Rain showers.
Spent most of the day visiting with Scott's relatives (Richard & Dagmar Davis, grandparents {mom's side}; Patricia {Pat} Pershall (Mother); Mike (step-dad); Samantha {Sam}, (sister); Jeff (uncle). Mike helped us cut some angles on some boards, which was all the work we got done. Pat & Sam made dinner for us, after which we took showers & watched TV before returning to the boat for the night.
Sun May 21. Rain. Wind light & variable.
After breakfast we got underway. After a quick stop at the fuel dock to buy gas (32 gallons--I think this new motor has reduced my fuel efficiency to 3 mpg...though the speed is up to 6 mph) we headed for Landlocked Bay. It took us about 8 hours to get there, fighting the tide some of the time. Rained most of the way, so we all took turns piloting, but got no work done on the boat.
Mon May 22. Rain/Sun/Rain. Calm.
It rained off & on until we got out of Landlocked Bay. As soon as we found a patch of sun we shut the motor off and dug into the work. When a cloud threatened us we moved on out into the Sound, out near the Bligh Reef buoy. Kraig and I got the front edgings done and then we spent until about 5 getting the styrofoam screwed & glued in place. Then we fired up the engine (after discovering the starter had come loose so we had to hold it in place in order to make it start) and headed for Sawmill Bay. Kraig drove while Scott and I got most of the plywood glued and screwed in place. We dropped anchor in Sawmill about 20:30, and whilc Scott & I continued to work Kraig made dinner. We paused work the the last half-sheet of plywood left to do--and during dinner it started to rain. So we quickly tarped everything and then finished dinner. Fortunately it stopped raining long enough for us to finish that last sheet shortly after we finished dinner. By the time we had secured the deck (meaning pick up our tools and tarping everything) it was 22:30. I spent half an hour or so getting all caught up on this (first time since last Wed--which is why those days are so sketchy!)
Tue May 23. Rain, rain, rain, rain. Calm.
It was raining when we woke up. It was still raining when we finished breakfast, and continued to rain without the slightest pause until we went to bed that night. We weighed anchor about 11 and headed in to Valdez. While under way we cleaned up the boat a bit; sluiced down the decks and got the lines to the proper places for tieing up to the dock. We got to Valdez about 2 and parked the boat backwards in the slip so we could remove the motor. Kraig then spent the next 3 hours fixing the broken starter mount. I bought us lunch/dinner at the Halibut House, and then we spent a couple of hours hauling stuff up to the van, getting gas, and otherwise getting ready to head to Fairbanks.
Tue, July 11. Rain
Matt and I arrived on our bicycles about 7 pm. We had dinner at the Halibut House and then worked on the boat for awhile. Dennis arrived in his vehicle around 11. He slept on the floor for the night since we didn't feel like cleaning out the aft bunk.
Wed, July 12. Barometer rising slowly. Rain showers.
We spent the morning getting ready to leave. Moved the boat over to the loading ramp to move our supplies from Dennis' vehicle. By early afternoon we were loaded (if not stowed). After a quick stop at the fuel dock for 90 gallons of fuel we were on our way. Made good progress with a trailing tide. Late afternoon we were opposite the Columbia Glacier. Dennis wanted to walk on an iceberg so we picked on that looked stable, motored (carefully) up to it and let him off. We backed off so he could take pictures of it. From there we went up Long Bay. Lots of people there (3 other boats). We tied off between two banks in a very narrow slot near the head of the bay (note: looks to be lots of rocks in this bay--use extreme caution.)
Thu, July 13. Barometer rising slowly. Rain showers.
We were woke up fairly early by the boat starting to list. The high tides had caught us! It didn't end up quite dry under the boat, but is was pretty close. Fortunately the bottom was very good so we didn't do any damage. We took the opportunity to clean the bottom of the boat and remove the (old) propeller. After we were floating again we motored over to the entrance of Billie's Cove, anchored and used the canoe to explore the cove. There was a guy there who had sunk his boat on a rock. He had it floating again, and was pretty philosphical about it; we returned his bucket. After we got back to the boat we motored to Eshamy Bay. When we got to Eshamy Bay I went up the mast wires to watch for rocks and we motored to the end of the bay. At the end of the bay we tried to get back into a cove that was on the map but got caught in the current (tide) and wound up aground. We hurriedly ran 4 lines ashore and securely tied the boat to wait for high tide. Matt and Dennis took the canoe and went exploring while I stayed with the boat to keep track of it. It was floating by the time they got back, so we untied it, got it turned around, and motored out to the entrance of the cove where we anchored for the night.
Fri, July 14. Barometer rising slowly. Rain showers.
Dennis got up early and cought a couple of salmon for dinner. After breakfast we canoed around the bay a bit exploring a few of the inlets at the head of the bay. There was no ocean connection to the lakes just past the head of the bay, so we didn't get back to them. We found the remains of what appeared to be a couple of black bear near the edge of a cove. We motored from Eshamy Bay to Copper. WATCH THE ROCK near the narrow channel--it is under water at high tide (we almost hit it in spite of my being up the mast wires watching for it!) When we got to Copper Bay we anchored off the end of the point and had dinner ashore over an open fire. After dinner we moved to the head of the bay and anchored near the mouth of the stream. We drug anchor on 2 occasions during the night, so we put out 300' of line and a second anchor.
Sat, July 15. Rain. Barometer rising slowly.
Being a little tired of the rainy weather we spent the day in the boat, reading and playing with the computers.
Sun, July 16. Rain. Barometer rising
Dennis & Matt climbed to the top of the waterfall at the head of Copper Bay, and found a really neat lake up there. I spent the day on the boat, reading, taking a sponge bath and tinkering around.
Mon, July 17. Rain. Barometer variable.
Another day in Copper Bay. Matt and I hiked up to the lake, and got out on the 'ice' (really just very thick, dense snow--pretty strange stuff!) and walked the length of the lake and climbed the snow slide at the far end. The basin is a pretty neat spot, with 800-1000' cliffs surrounding 3 sides of the 1/4 mile long lake. Dennis spent the day on the boat. That evening we played with the computers.
Tue, July 18. Cloudy-rain. Barometer variable. 5 mph NE wind.
We spent the morning and afternoon working on the boat, getting the top of the main cabin almost ready for fiberglass. After getting in a good 6 hours of work we left Copper Bay and headed for Latouche Island. We motored all the way, for there was little wind. To help kill time we dug out the pistol and did a little target practice as we motored. Shortly before we got to Latouche rain clouds started moving in on us so we hurriedly put the tarps back over the main cabin. When we got to Latouche Island we found a place near Dennis' friend's cabin to anchor and had dinner. The spot was not well protected and a north wind came up so we moved down the coast a bit to Horseshoe Bay, a well protected anchorage. Due to the mosquitoes we decided it should be re-named Mosquitoe Bay!!
Wed, July 19. Cloudy. Barometer rising. NE wind @7
We slept in a little, had oatmeal for breakfast and then Matt & Dennis took the canoe up the coast to the mine & cabin. I hung around the boat and did some work on it, as well as took a sponge bath. They got back around 6, and we put up the sails and sailed out of the Bay and headed south. By 9 we were out in the ocean. We had to motor a little to clear the end of Latouche passage, and then we sailed on south. Wanting to see what it was like to spend the night at sea we just kept heading south. Unfortunately the wind died away to nothing but a whisper; we ghosted southward all night.
Thu, July 20. Rainy-sunny. Barometer variable. Calm-S@8
Matt had been ill most of the night so Dennis and I split his first shift of the morning (Matt took the shift from 12-3 am, I took the shift from 3 to 6 am, Dennis then took it through 10:30 am). When I got up we were pretty much stationary so I fired up the motor and we headed for Seward. Throughout the morning we saw Humpback whales (several of whom were breaching), Orca whales and True Porpoise. Resolution Point was a magnificent bird rookery, with lots of caves and cliffs that looks like it would be fun to explore. We got into Seward a little after 5, a little over 6 hours after we started the motor. We wandered around a little and I bought a pizza for dinner. We were all tired so we went to bed early.
Fri, July 21. Rain. Barometer falling. S @12.
Due to the rain we spent the day on the boat.
Sat, July 22. Sun! Barometer steady. N @15
Took most of the day off. Matt departed on his bike for his sister's. Michael & his 3 kids + Helen drove down from Anchorage and I took them out for a quick sail. Great sailing! Didn't go anywhere, and after we got back I bought them dinner.
Sun, July 23. Rain showers. Barometer steady. SE @15.
Dennis and I headed out of Seward after a small problem at the fuel dock (they filled our 30 gallon drum with diesel and then took 45 minutes to find a drum and pump to get it out of our drum!). So it was noon by the time we headed out. We had a good tailwind (N@15) until we cleared Resurection Point. Then the wind shifted to the SE. A direct headwind. We fought it most of the afternoon (the seas were too rough and confused to motor) and made little headway. Almost got in trouble trying to sail by the lee side of Bidwell (sp?) Rock--there was quite an eddie there and we got caught in it right when the wind died from the shadow of the rock. It sucked us up right up next to the cliff before it (fortunately!) veered away. Our motor wasn't working either, for a wave had dround it. We tried the anchor but the cliff went straight down to 100 fathoms (600 feet), so it did nothing but hang--we were getting ready to fend off with a board when the current took us out again.
We tacked until about 7:30 when Dennis thought we should turn back. I wasn't too keen on going back to Seward, but if we hadn't made it into Day Bay before dark we'd end up spending the night out on the ocean in rough seas and uncertain winds so I let him talk me into going back.
It took us until 1 to get back due to the fact we had to get out of the rough water before I could work on the motor--and of course the wind died down. But we finally got around the corner of Fox Island and I got the motor running around 11.
Mon, July 24. Rain. Barometer falling rapidly. S to 15.
Due to the rain we spent the day on the boat.
Tue, July 25. 'Sun'/rain. Barometer steady. Winds variable. Seward to Copper Bay: 72 knot. mi. Swells 5' to 10'
We got up at 7 am, checked the weather and (since it was good) rushed to get ready to depart; Dennis secured the boat while I got 15 gallons of fuel. By 8:30 we were under way, and as soon as we cleared the harbor we got the sails up and had a very quick motor-sail run up the port. After we were well under way Dennis fixed oatmeal for breakfast. By the time we got out on the open sea the wind died away to nothing, and the swells picked up to 5'. We motored all the way across to port Bainbridge in gradually increasing swells. Not too far from Bainbridge Dennis called me up to see a Humpback whale that was breaching (not to mention slapping it's long flukes on the water). It continued playing for the 20 minutes it took us to approach it. The day had been nice up to the time we got to Port Bainbridge, but then it turned gloomy and rainy. We followed Bainbridge Passage to Knight Island Passage, crossed to Squire Island Passage and thence to Copper Bay. We dropped anchor at 10:00, had a nice dinner of hot dogs, played a bit on the computer and then went to bed about 11:30.
Wed, July 26. Sun-showers. Light and variable winds. Copper Bay to Sawmill Bay. 55 knt mi; 10 hrs.
We got under way about 8, and Dennis made breakfast after we got out in Knight Island Passage. We discovered a couple new rocks on the way out (it was a minus tide); one about 100 yards up the entrance (from Squire I. Passage) to Copper Bay, approximately 1/3 of the way across the channel from the S shore...it may be deep enough over it but don't trust it at low tide! The second one is in the S part of the 3/4 fathom area on the map (off Squire Island). *not* on the map!
The trip was placid. Little wind, occasionally sunny. We got a little work done on the boat, sanding the deck and getting ready to fiberglass it. Just after passing Glacier Island we met the ice floes from the Columbia Glacier, and managed to net a few pieces of ice for the cooler (which was almost out).
As usual there were sea lions on the buoy at the entrance to the Valdez Arm. We took some pictures, and then headed on to Sawmill Bay.
There were a couple boats already in Sawmill (sigh) but the place I normally anchor was free so we anchored there and I went fishing while Dennis fixed dinner. After dinner we both went fishing, and as soon as I had my limit I had Dennis take me back to the boat. He continued fishing while I took a sponge bath and played on the computer until dark.
Thu, July 27. Rain. Winds light and variable.
Dennis got up at 6 and fished for a couple of hours while slept in. When he got back to the boat we got under way and 2 & 3/4 hours later we were in Valdez. We took turns steering and packing.
When we got to Valdez we parked at the loading ramp. Dennis moved his truck over and we tied the canoe on the top of his truck, loaded all my stuff, all his stuff, and Matt's stuff which he had left with us to bring back for him. Then we moved the boat back to it's dock, tidied it up and headed for Fairbanks.
Sun, Aug. 20, Sun! Barom. 30.1; wind calm.
Arrived with Frankie @11pm.
Mon. Aug. 21. Sun!!! Barom. 29.95; wind NE to 20; waves to 3 ft Valdez --> Landlocked Bay; 6 hrs.
We left around noon; motored for 3 miles and then the wind came up and we put up the sails and had a marvelous sail all the way to Landlocked Bay. We only had to motor the last mile into the bay. After securing the boat we went for a canoe trip up the river, caught a salmon for dinner. We spent the evening making pie and cooking salmon :)
A few other notes of the day; we lost a wire up the mizzen mast, but managed to retrieve it using a hook on a paddle. We also discovered a mouse in the cotpit area. No idea how it got on the boat! We fed it a bit of bread...
Tues, 8/22 Partly sunny. Winds light & variable. Barometer falling; 29.9. Ocean swells to 4' (from Hinchenbrook Entrance.) Landlocked Bay --> Upper Passage/Ingot Island; 8.5 hrs.
We slept in, had a leasurely breakfast and finally got under way around 1 pm. We motored the entire way, spending about half the time working on the boat. We had hoped to make it to Bay of Isles, but it was getting late so we stopped on Ingot Island. We anchored at the SE mouth of Upper Passage, in a small cove that faces NE. The bay has a rocky bottom and we were uncertain about the anchorage so we ran a line ashore. Watch the rock on the E shore; it is about 100' from shore 200' from the head of the bay. Nice gravel beach :)
The mouse had vanished during the night. We suspect it jumped overboard through one of the cotpit drains. Wonder if it managed to make it ashore?
Wed, 8/23 Mostly sunny. Winds light & variable. Barometer steady; 29.9 Ocean swells to 4' (from Hinchenbrook Entrance.) Upper Passage --> Sawmill Bay; 8.5 hrs.
I kept something of an anchor watch because we were in a narrow spot with lots of rocks around.
We got up around 9 and got under way about 11, after going ashore and doing a little beach combing (not to mention fetching the line we had ashore). We went through Upper Passage; the area on the chart that shows as shallow it is possible to see the bottom but I didn't observe any big rocks (mid channel passage, tide @4'). After clearing the passage we made breakfast and ate while under way. By mid-afternoon we were going around Glacier Island. Frankie wanted a picture of the boat under sail so I dropped her off in the canoe and she paddled out and took some pictures.
We had a bit of trouble with ice at the mouth of Columbia Bay; this boat is too wide to be messing in the ice fields! The ice extended all the way to Freemantle Pt. so it was slow going for a couple hours. Once we cleared Freemantle we started dinner.
The sea lions were on the buoy, as usual. After dinner we did some slow sailing for an hour, until the wind dropped away. Had to start the motor up to get the last .5 mile.
Once we got the boat anchored (usual spot in Sawmill Bay) we went paddling. We checked out the shack at the head of the bay, did a little beach combing and went up the stream a ways where Frankie caught a couple fish. It was late (after dark) by the time we got back to the boat so we secured the boat (closed the hatches, brought all the electronic stuff in, etc) for the night, cleaned the fish and went to bed.
Thu, 8/24. Rain, rain, rain. Winds W@12. Barometer 30. Sawmill Bay -> Valdez; 2 hrs 20 minutes (apx).
Gloomy, rainy day so we slept in. The wind was getting into the bay a bit, but the anchor held solidly. Lots of grass on it when I pulled it up though!
Motor-sailed most of the way up Port Valdez. Tried to use the GPS but didn't get a lock so we aren't sure how fast we were going...(too lazy to get out the log).
No one in our slip (been real lucky all summer--wonder if they have changed their policies about letting other people use it?). Backed the boat in so we could take the motor off and secure the boat for the winter :(. We had dinner at the Halibut House, and then did a tour of the town, etc.
Fri, 8/25. Rain. *sigh*
We cleaned up the boat, took the motor off, loaded the car and left for Fairbanks in the later afternoon.
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