We set off this morning for our summer cruise along the west side of Kodiak and hopefully onward to the Aleutian Chain. After crazy rain and winds yesterday the sun came out today and warmed everything. The sky was blue the water sparkled, otters fed and played as we cruised pass. Today was a beautiful day to be on the water. We even had a rainbow as we departed Kodiak town.
We had fun all day playing with our latest toy. Before leaving town Wade installed a fish finder connected to our chartplotter. There were so many times we just wanted to stop and fish along the way.
We anchored off Afognak Island to stretch our legs, the tide was low so we had a long walk across an abundant amount of smelly kelp to reach the beach. Afterwards we motored with the current through Afognak Straight getting up to 8.5 knots. Once in Kupreanof Straight we faced the west wind we had been dreading. We were heading west with the current and the wind was blowing from the west so we had to motor into standing waves making the last couple hours of our voyage a bit bouncy and slow.
Entering Onion Bay seems very straight forward if you’re using a map with satellite view; however, the bay floor contour is not so simple. We highly recommend only entering this bay during a higher tide because there is a spit that projects from the west shore and it nearly becomes a land bridge at low tide and at a negative tide closes the bay off completely. Once we entered the bay we stayed on the western shore and twisted through the shoals that appeared on our chart and our new sonar. After we were through the worst a local set net fisherman came over and explained the most efficient way in the bay is to continue forward along the northeast shore and aim for the red house directly inline with the bay entrance.
We had a roast with potatoes, cabbage and carrots cooking in the pressure cooker. The sun was low enough to shine in the cockpit so it was so warm, borderline hot. We enjoyed watching the sunset over the hill with our tasty dinner.
Cheers,
Wade and Sara
Onion Bay Anchorage Mud Bottom 58° 3.361’N, 153° 14.257W VHF Weather, SSB Unsure, 5/5 Iridium Go connection
To find where are Wade, Sara, and SV Just Drifting, copy and paste these coordinates 58.056,-153.237 into Google Maps!
