Sunrise was at 7:28 am, which would have been nice to see during our early morning departure from Atka village, but we were enveloped in a very dense fog. The fog was so thick we used radar to leave the anchorage. We are heading east, well more like northeast. The winds tonight are supposed to blow from the north-northeast, so we want to get as far north as we can and then fall off to make a course just north of Unalaska.
In Atka we took on 53 gallons of diesel and paid the highest price for fuel we have ever paid in either of our lives at $7.75 per gallon. We caught a peak at the receipt for the local school’s diesel bill and the price was the same. At first we considered if we had been upcharged because we are from out of town, but nope that’s just how much it cost.
We were escorted a few miles from our anchorage to the Atika Store to prepay for fuel, by William the local police, fireman, communication, and harbormaster. While Wade was at the store Sara walked to the local school only a half mile away to download emails. The wifi at the school is free, but as it is a government maintained building no one is allowed inside when it is closed so a few locals were huddled underneath a porch awning to download the latest movie to go home and watch later.
Wade and William picked Sara up and took us back to the bay at which we were anchored to receive our fuel from a fuel truck. William told us about a rock slide taking out the community’s water tower and normally water is provided by the cannery but they were closed at the moment. He told us they were excited about a new family moving to their little town with four children which means the school can stay open because they need 10 children to keep the school open. If we hung around a couple of days longer, a massage therapist and beautician fly in to provide massages and haircuts.
We learned later the four wheeler we heard two days before was William, haha. He had just got a four wheeler and was testing it out.
Atka village is a neat town and worth a stop.
Cheers,
Wade and Sara
Underway at noon 52° 26.108’N, 173° 41.965W
No VHF Weather Signal, Great SSB Signal, We have sent the Iridium No Go off for repairs
To find where Wade, Sara, and SV Just Drifting were at noon, type or copy/paste these coordinates 52.43513333,-173.69941667 into Google Maps!
