November 8th
How can this be? We have enjoyed six sunny days out of each week since leaving Kodiak Town, even our high wind days have been mainly sunny. We have been told that the weather depends on where you are on the island, but we hope Kodiak Town is able to enjoy these beautiful sunny days too. We had a couple of days that reminded us that we were in Alaska and it is November because we awoke to snow cover mountain tops once again but in a few days it was mostly melted.
Each morning we run the generator to heat up the boat and then we are forced to turn it off to conserve fuel. Running the generator to get heat is starting to get expensive. We have figured out we have burnt more fuel running the generator than the engine, hence, the new diesel heater on order. We’ve calculated the diesel heater will pay for itself with the fuel we would spend to run the generator in 8 to 10 months. Plus we’ll be warm all the time not just for the short burst, even in the cockpit.
Besides, the three local hunting guides Sara gave fresh baked garlic cheese bread and two resident bear hunters, we were on our own. By the 8th day of the resident bear hunters hunt they had not gotten close enough to get a bear. As they only had two nights left, before they needed to return to work, and both of those days were filled with 30 to 40 knot winds, we would be surprised if they did get a bear. During the sunny days we get off the boat and hike all around the bay. We’ve mainly hiked the foot hills and stayed off the mountain tops. Interestingly enough we keep running into ravines. From the water it looks like you could just hike straight up to the top of the mountain, but the tall 4 to 5 foot grass and Alder trees look continuous, but as we have experienced a few times the hike is stopped by a deep valley that separates one foot hill from the next.
This morning we pulled up anchor, at 5 am and with a 31 degrees outside temperature, to sadly return to town and conclude this years cruising season. We have one stop near Whale Island to anchor and get some rest before completing the rest of the trip into town tomorrow.
Cheers,
Wade and Sara
Underway at noon 57$deg; 56.281N, 153° 41.504W
Near Whale Island Previous Anchorage 32 feet Mud Strong VHF 57$deg; 58.799N, 152° 55.739W
