Sitka

Five days is just not enought time to do Sitka justice.  What a lovely town it is!  We have spent our time here recovering from our passage - getting the sleep patterns back in order after the watch system has taken a bit of work on my part - but we are both feeling rested now and ready to proceed.  Tomorrow we are up early and will head north through Olga and Neva passages, into Salisbury Sound, transit Sergius Narrows, into Peril Strait and Chatham Inlet.  We are heading for Warm Springs Cove on the east side of Baronof Island where we will stay for a couple days, though we will likely anchor in a spot or two en route.  Our reservation for Glacier Bay isn't until July 23, so we imagine ourselves meandering up Chatham Strait over the next week, exploring other anchorages and hot springs en route.  Apparently internet connection is infrequent, so I may not be able to post as regularly.

(I will post a chart following our route at a later date - in the meantime, if you are interested, you can find the route described above with a google search)

While in Sitka, we cleaned up Ka'sala inside and out, loaded her up with diesel and water again, and filled the stores with fresh provisions.  There is a local grocery store here, Sea Mart, which has excellent stock at reasonable prices considering what is involved in bringing goods to this remote location.  They even paid for our taxi ride back to the marina!  But it hasn't been all work.  We did find the Pioneer Bar and drank our fill of Alaska Amber and Baronof IPA!

We explored the Sitka National Monument and Park and learned about the history of the Tlingit, Russian and American people who have lived here.  Everyone seems friendly and most people want to know where you come from and where you are going.  It is hard to get down the dock without being engaged in several conversations.  The locals, for their part, lead interesting lives.  Many are fishermen and the collection of their boats on the docks is vibrant and very much in working order.  The commercial fishing industry here is alive and well! 

The only complaint we have had is the internet connections here are terrible.  The cell phone coverage is very weak and overwelmed most of the time.  Only a handful of places have WiFi available to the public and, they too, are over burdened.  I think part of it is because of the many cruise ships that unload their passangers each day - many of them probably have their smartphones with them.

There are about 25 miles of road here and we have explored most of it on our bicycles.  It was great to get out and stretch our muscles!  Sitka is definitely bicycle friendly with a wide bicycle lane along the highway.  We will miss this place!

On Baronof Hill - where Alaska was sold to the US by the Russians and also where Alaska became a state

The following are some photos I took while we were at sea - not too many, I'm afraid - too busy!

Shaka bro' - leaving Hanalei Bay, Kauai

Hitch hiker

A cold day

Reading underway at the nav station

Deceptively peaceful!

Drying out the clothes

Land ho!

Proud captain

Sitka boat harbour - it is huge

Ka'sala dwarfed by fishboats and large power yachts

First view of Sitka by sea - it was overcast for most of our stay here

Friday, July 6 - Day 23

57.04 N
135.21 W

Sitka, Alaska

We're here!  We arrived on the dock in Sitka this morning at 8am local time after a quiet night. It took 23 days and 3 hours to get here from Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii.  I can't say it was the most pleasurable passage we have completed, but we both feel a great sense of accomplishment, and are happy to be here safe and sound.  For the next few days we will be cleaning and tidying, resting up, exploring Sitka, and acclimatizing.  We are both more than excited to start the next phase of our adventure as we take the next couple of months to explore Alaska and work our way down the coast to Comox.  Thank you to friends and loved ones who have been keeping us in their thoughts and wishing us well as we made our way here.  Knowing we are loved and all that positive energy certainly made a difference. 

Hero shot - are we happy to be in Sitka, or what?

Thursday, July 5 - Day 22

56.02 N
137.06 W

104 NM - 104 to go!

All going well, today is our last day at sea. We expect to arrive in Sitka sometime tomorrow morning. I find it hard to believe that the journey is almost over - at times I felt like it was never going to end. Today, contrarily, I feel somewhat nostalgic. This is probably my last offshore passage and what an adventure it has been! We've covered thousands of sea miles since we left Puerto Vallarta on April 24 and now it all seems like a dream.

We still have quite a ways to go before we arrive back in Comox, but it will be a very different type of trip. For example, we will be gunkholing - meaning that each night we will be either at anchor, a mooring or on the dock. Sleeping the night through and not holding watch will make a big difference. If the weather outlook is not to our liking, we will have the option of staying put. There will not be the constant stress of trying to strategize and deal with adverse conditions. We won't have to deal with uncomfortable sea states very often. We will see land, flora and fauna, as well as people. Yes, these can all bring their own sets of problems but we are ready for the change.

Right now we are close reaching on 041 T direct to Sitka. Our full jib and reefed main are set and we are making over 5 knots in easy seas. We saw some sunshine this morning, but we are back in the mist as a result of warm air and cold seas. This morning we were able to tidy the boat in preparation for arriving in port. We are going to look shipshape when we arrive and we are prideful enough to hope to hear: "You came all the way from Hawaii???? Sure doesn't look like it!".

Darlene, on the Great North Boater's Net tells us the Pioneer Bar is the place to be on a Friday night, so we are looking forward to it. Alaska Amber on tap! Who could ask for anything more! In the meantime, we are waiting for the cloud to lift in anticipation of our first sight of the magnificent coastal Alaskan mountains. Tally ho!

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Wednesday, July 4 - Day 21

54.42 N
139.19 W

113 NM - 208 to go!

Happy 4th of July to all our American friends! This morning we were able to make contact with Darlene, net control for the Great Northern Boater's Net, so all the cruisers on the coast who listen in will know we are approaching Sitka. She was pretty excited to hear from us as I don't think they get a lot of offshore sailors checking in. This Ham network connects boaters each morning from Alaska to Puget Sound, so we will be monitoring it as we move south. It was so wonderful to hear the Pacific Northwest chatter from familiar call signs and know we are close to home.

Our rough conditions moderated (giving new meaning to "Shiver me Timbers" for us) over the night and we are now sailing, close hauled, straight to Sitka on 040T. We still have about 20 knots over the deck, but the seas are calmer, so it is actually quite pleasant, in a relative sort of way. The weather prognosis is for these conditions to persist over the next couple of days which means we will likely be on the dock in Sitka sometime Friday morning. Walking on level land will be a real treat - if we don't fall over!

The grey skies persist, though the cloud cover is thin. We still have not seen the sun for almost 2 weeks. No traffic. No wildlife spotted. We will have to keep a closer watch the next couple of days as we will be in range of coastal fishing boats which may not have AIS. Both of us are finding it hard to believe this intense passage is about to draw to a close!

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Tuesday, July 3, Day 20

53.22 N
141.30 W

105 NM - 321 to go!

The favourable winds stayed with us right until this morning and we were able to make good northing. This morning we tacked and are now heading 035T directly to Sitka. That's the good news. The not-so-pleasant news is that we are beating into 20 knots of wind in a choppy sea. Ka'sala is bashing up and down in the waves and we are well heeled on our starboard side. It is rough and, as I write this post, my eyeballs bounce around in my head when I try to focus on the screen. These conditions are supposed to continue for the next 24 hours anyway, so we will just have to lump it - literally. We are flying under a double reefed main, staysail and 1/4 jib and, despite the wave crashing, Ka'sala is maintaining her speed of approximately 5 knots.

The weather prognosis is for lightening conditions on Thursday, so we may get our wish of clear skies and a view of the Alaska coastline as we approach Sitka. Fingers crossed!

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Monday, July 2 - Day 19

51.31 N
141.39 W

113 NM - 426 to go to Sitka!

We woke up this morning to a favourable wind from the southeast that is giving us 5.5 knots of speed in the right direction. Wonderful! We were expecting light winds, so it is nice to get the push. It is still quite cold - we bundle up to go up to the cockpit to make adjustments. The sky and sea are still grey - we have the cloud, drizzle and occasional shower over our heads as the polar front follows us along. Doug was able to download a satellite image of the Pacific Ocean and most of it is clear sunshine - except where we are - of course! Perhaps we will be lucky, and as we get closer to the coast, the cloud will dissipate, and we will see the mountainous coastline as we approach Sitka.

We continue to see large ships. This morning we were in contact with a container ship bound for Vancouver, BC, which passed a mile in front of our bow. When you have AIS you realize it is quite a busy ocean.

We continue to take each day as it comes and look forward to landfall later in the week.

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Sunday, July 1 - Day 18

49.30 N
142.12 W

101 NM - 539 to go!

Happy Canada Day! We celebrated Canada's 151st birthday this morning with pancakes and maple syrup. We feel fortunate to be Canadians in this world where there is so much unrest and uncertainty.

Last night the winds dropped off around midnight and we had to motor until late morning. Now we are gliding along in serene seas, straight north on a beam reach in 10 knots of winds, maintaining approximately 5 knots of speed. Long may it continue! The weather prognosis is that we will enjoy these reasonable easterly winds for the next day or so, then the winds will strengthen and shift to the north - not great for us, as I mentioned before - we do not sail directly into the wind. We expect we will have to bear off east and, in the unlikely event we can't make northing, we have been exploring our charts and guidebooks for possible landfalls to the south of Sitka. We can only take it one day at a time and make decisions accordingly. If we are fortunate, we could make landfall on Friday. Hey! I hope so! We are running out of beer!

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