We are presently cruising at 6 knots alongside Godwit , a couple hundred meters to our North, on our way to the Egg Island Channel. The weather window was too good to pass up so we departed Yakutat yesterday. Tom and Jim left about 1300. I picked up Jim Mealey from Ely at the airport at 1600 and after dropping off Tom’s truck we caught a ride to the harbor and were underway by 1720. The St. Elias Range was out and we looked in on Hubbard and Turner glaciers which apparently are still advancing. The water was beautiful, saw a few porpoise and a whale stick his head vertically from the sea to eye our passing. We ran pretty close to shore and saw the color change of the floury drainage from the huge Malaspina and Bering Glaciers. Nearing Icy Bay we saw the small dot of the Godwit further out to sea and hailed Tom on the radio as we made for shelter at the north end of Kayak Island to arrive with enough high water to safely enter kayak channel on the west side. We ran 144 miles in a bit over 6 hours with the last hour going slow because of the many rocks and shallow water. I had a half dozen waypoints to go by from Pete from Cordova which was very helpful. We anchored in about 20 ft and slept soundly with barely a bump from the peaceful sea.
Tom and Jim motored in around 0800 this morning and we ran together through the remainder of the shallow Kayak channel with the rising tide. Since we will also need high water for the Egg Island channel we are just cruising at 6 knots to arrive at the entrance in 8 hours or so. The forecast remains great through the day and we should reach Cordova around midnight unless we change our mind or something else comes up, like the sea floor. We have the coordinates plotted for the stick channel which marks the narrow, shallow passage between Egg Island and the Copper River Delta. This route saves about 40 miles from going around Hincinbrook Island where all the oil tankers pass going to and from Valdez.
Jim is having a nap and I am listening to some slack key guitar trying to stay awake. It is nice cruising at 6 knots because you don’t have to keep a constant vigil for objects. That pause allows for moments of reflection. You can’t help but wonder about what it means to be alive when you are out in the middle of everywhere. Personal longings deepen and I think more often of those existential questions, like why am I here, what can I do to make things better for the places and people i love. Tom says some day the younger generation will put us older folk all on trial and wonder why we have not done more to protect our planet while we have had a chance to do so. I struggle with that question some because as a consumer I sure like to use products, eat, and burn fuel. I guess, in a way, we are all on trial with ourselves as how best to be in this world and learn to give at least as much as we take. This sea journey, these wild shores, serene coves, untrammeled beaches, the narrow passages, rugged mountains and untamed trees and weed, all the little towns and friendly folks I’ve met, have given me so much. I sure hope to find a way to adequately pay all that goodness forward.
We ran with Tom all day yesterday from Kayak Island to Cordova doing about 6 knots so we had good fuel economy. Travelled 79 miles south of Egg Island through the stick channel. We anchored long enough to barbecue a Halibut filet and let let the tide deepen our passage which at times got down to about a fathom and a quarter. The red and green markers were pretty crucial for a safe slalom through this dynamic Copper River delta area with its low islands, mud flats, and changing sand bars. We got into Cordova harbor about 2230 and i docked in the same place the last time i was here some 8 years ago, right below the Reluctant Fisherman. The harbor is full of Bow Pickers but I hear there is a salmon opener Thursday so they will be blasting out of here rodeo style before long. We saw no other boats on the entire journey between Yakutat and Cordova. All in all we travelled 223 miles on 88.7 gallons (gage reading), making 2.5 nmpg.
