We hid away in our little cove fully protected from the flag (50 knots) of wind predicted, or so we thought! The US Coast Pilot 9 stated Alpine Cove was “An excellent anchorage near the entrance in 12 to 15 fathoms, mud bottom, and sheltered from all winds and seas.” When we first thought about anchoring in Alpine Cove we used land maps to view the terrain and we were a little concerned there could be a williwaw. A williwaw is an increase in wind due to the wind passing through the mountain valleys and funneling into a bay. The high winds were predicted for Wednesday, but the north easterly winds we experienced on Tuesday were only supposed to be at most 25 knots. Around 9 pm on Tuesday the wind started to gust and because of a williwaw we experienced our first ever 50 knot gust of wind, 51.3 to be exact. During gust the entire boat shook and even heeled like we were sailing. We were concerned through the night and took turns sleeping so that one of us could be awake on an anchor watch. Thankfully the worst subsided around midnight, our 110 lbs anchor and our 325 feet of chain on a clay like mud bottom held us firmly.
The next morning we decided to pull up our anchor and move a little closer to the center of the bay. The next big blow was predicted to be out of the south and south west and with all of our chain out we would swing into shallower water. The anchor had dug in so well that lifting the anchor was too much for our electric winch so we drove ahead using the force of the chain and main engine to get it to pop free. We picked up our crab trap (sadly no crabs) and after re-anchored we went fishing (sadly no fish). The next couple of nights we experienced a few gust up to 30 but nothing like the first night. When the wind switched and started coming from the south and west the anchorage was a little bouncy, but still very comfortable.
Today we had a lazy day getting going, but the day was too beautiful to stay inside. Clear blue skies, calm water. We went on a lovely hike following dear trails along the river. Just as we got back to the dinghy a little snow flurry started fall and the sun radiated turning the hills from a brown to a shiny golden brown.
Cheers,
Wade and Sara
Alpine Cove Anchorage Mud Bottom (No VHF Weather)
1st Anchorage 57° 08.168N, 153° 45.092W
2nd Anchorage 57° 08.206N, 153° 45.236W
SSB did not work due to COM port failure; Iridium Go is working amazingly for text and getting weather via Sailmail
