Written on my birthday. Two days prior, two fishing boats left Dutch Harbor, and Jennifer and I climbed to higher ground, all of us waiting for a tsunami.
Dutch Harbor, AK, USA, 24-JUL-2020 – It is my birthday today. I’ve come to the conclusion there is no such thing as a day off. Here in Dutch Harbor, we have had a full social life and will take tonight for just Jennifer and me. We’ll go to Angelina’s, which has an amazing Mexican menu. We’ll eat some small plates, I think, and drink some beer.
Living on Discovery Dock with us in the Bob Moss International small boat harbor are Anja and Thomas on Robusta and Ola* and Michael on Crystal.
We corresponded with Anja and Thomas on the way here. They can be quite funny in emails, and we had a great time corresponding. They were sailing in from Japan.
Jake, a commercial fisherman, on Sophia Grace arrived the day after us.
Ola and Michael arrived a few days ago from the Big Island in Hawaii. They had been anchoring out just off Kona. They started, like Anja and Thomas in northern Europe, but rather than heading immediately across and south, they decided to visit the Farro Island, Iceland, and Greenland. We learned about this when Ola mentioned something about facilities in Spitsbergen. For cruisers, sailing to Spitsbergen will cause one to spit their beer. It is startling that one would go there.
I started a conversation about there always being someone, no matter what you do, who does more or better. Many of Jennifer and my friends think what we do is amazing. But here on this dock, we are lighweights.
Anja and Thomas have been doing this for six years. They came around the bottom of South America, which I am beginning to think is the European standard, through Patagonia, New Zealand and eventually over to Japan, and now here.
After Spitbergen and that part of the world, Michael and Ola took a trek similar to Zingaro, via Pitcairn and Easter Island.
And then there is us. Seattle, San Diegio, Hawaii and here.
But the conversation with Michal was, who do you look up to? Muk Tuk is the hot boat at the moment, they’ve done the Northwest passage. In all of these things, there are people that one would expect should be placed on a pedestal but are not.†
Peter Smith of Rocna Anchors and the sailing vessel Kiwi Roa was here until the day before we arrived. Kiwi Roa just left to take the NW Passage from West to East, having done East to West a couple of years ago. The passage isn’t open every year.
Why isn’t Peter mentioned? Jennifer wanted to meet him.. She is a fan of his anchor videos and writing.
It is because, as Ola confirmed, Peter is odd. Other people have told us he is not pleasant, not welcoming, etc. Perhaps this a side effect of fame, but it removes him from the pedestal of people that impress other sailors.
The universe of sailors sailing through this part of the world is small and we feel more and more honored to sail here. The boats that we discuss are boats that we all know of, and generally know. We know the crew and they know us.
We three, Crystal, Robusta, and Caro Babbo are all headed east. Will all be in Homer. We see it as a relaxed place; Robusta and Crystal have visas and cruising permits to deal with.
To Jennifer and my surprise, the length of stay on a multiple-year visa is based on the caprice of the agent you deal with on the day of arrival.
The CBP agent on Dutch Harbor is recently deceased; there is no replacement.
CBP and immigration have allowed Robusta to travel in the US (they have written documentation about this) until they get to Anchorage, where everything will become official.
The length of the stay is somewhat contingent on being about to show financial worth, which Anja and Thomas are easily able to demonstrate, but still, there is no assurance of what they will be granted once they get to Anchorage.
Jake, on Sophia Grace, is among the last of the independent fishermen in the Aleutians. Sophia Grace is a thirty-something foot fiberglass commercial fishing boat. The fishing rig changes by the season. The fishermen here are very candid about how much fish they may catch and the current market price. No one seems cagey about what all is happening. It has been a fantastic learning experience. Yes, I need to document this. I will try.
The night before last, Jake knocked on our boat to tell us his wife had called to tell him there had been a large earthquake nearby and there was a potential tsunami.
Jake knew where he was going and headed off. Anja, Thomas, Jennifer and I climbed a twenty-foot hill at the marina that was loaded with a broadcast antenna. Ola and Michael wouldn’t leave their boat until the Harbor Master told them they must.
With visions of Japan, Thailand, and the ’64 Alaskan quake, Jennifer and I looked for Anja and Michael, but couldn’t find them. Instead, we followed the trail of workers heading to a large hill.
We are in the wild. Dutch Harbor exists to support fishing. There is nothing extra. It is wild. A gravel road leads past some houses — think of the road as yards or metres long. Between two buildings is a crease in the hill that makes climbing easier. A triangle of people was climbing that crease. Jennifer and I fed ourselves into the climbing triangle and worked our way up the hill. Those that had decided not to climb higher would offer a hand to pull us up.
To pull on the grasses growing on the side of the hill to help us climb did not require bending from the waist, merely leaning forward.
Jennifer told me afterward she wanted to climb to the top of the hill, which we did, so she could see the water on both sides of the island. I wanted to climb to the top because it was the highest nearby place. If it would have been feasible to climb somewhere higher without a view, I would have gone there.
A scene from a sixties’ TV Western plays in my head lately as I review my safety practices. Two bad guys are discussing an old man who carries a shotgun rather than a six-shooter and was played by an actor in his sixties. The bad guys are in their twenties. The first bad guy says, ‘‘what are you afraid of, he’s just an old man?’’ The second replies, ‘‘That he lived to be an old man.’’ When I consider when I am being overly cautious, I remember this level of caution is one of the reasons I am alive, while some of my more devil-may-care peers are not.
Crystal left the dock headed east a few minutes ago, about 7 pm, to catch a favorable current and wind prediction. We’ll be off the dock by 5:30 am to pick up fuel before doing the same.‡
On the one hand, our friend Kimberly is right, there is nothing in Dutch Harbor. On the other, it is full of sights to those for whom this is the end of the earth.
*In Russian speaking countries, Ola is the diminutive of Olga. Sasha for Alexandria or Alexander. In Poland, Ola is the diminutive of Alexandria.
†Ola mentioned that their vessel, Crystal, has polar bear claw marks. I need to get the full story.
‡We were late leaving the dock and made the attendant wait for us. We felt bad since we only bought a $60 worth of fuel. Anja and Thomas bought a few hundred dollars, but nothing compared to a commercial fishing vessel.
