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Tonsina Bay, AK, 2-AUG-2021 — It is midday at anchor in a bifurcated cove, alone, the three of us on Caro Babbo. It is an unusual time for Jennifer and I to be anchored in a cove anywhere. We spend most mornings and middays moving from one place to another whenever we are traveling in British Columbia or Alaska. These few days following our departure from Homer have been full days, long days, which like many days here at 59 degrees north in the summer, feel like multiple days, both in their duration and the amount that we experience.

Flora has been, in the months leading to our departure, eager, ambivalent and decidedly against making the trip. In the end, rather than come for a small time she has decided to join us for the entire adventure: 5 weeks. A small trip for us, 1/4 its normal length, and a long time to be on a small boat with your mother and her partner.

Continue reading “A quiet cove and contemplation”

I’ve never published correspondence before. This letter to Ray Penson discusses things that are interesting to two sailors.

Ray, as you may know, holds a Type One captain’s license: any boat any ocean. He is a master seaman in the sense that the term conjures. You can search for Ray in the blog.

We met Ray in Secret Cove, a small cove in BC. The island defining one side of the cove was rumored to have been given to Marilyn Monroe by a secret lover.

Ray’s and our paths crossed throughout the summer culminating in a collision course heading into Prince Rupert after not seeing each other for weeks.

Ray, like Erwin, has been one of our guardian angels, watching over us and giving us advice. Continue reading “A letter to Ray”

Captain Cove, Alaska Peninsula, Alaska, 31-JUL-2020 — ”Charles will give you the WiFi password when he comes in. We all have it. People bring their laptops and do work,” said the fisherman I had been speaking with. Jennifer was still asleep. I walked over from the small boat harbor in King Cove where we were anchored with Robusta across the finger pier from us.

We hadn’t known Charles’ name when we first spoke to us as we approached King Cove. We had motored the entire way from East Anchor Cove on Unimak Island. That was the deal between Jennifer and me: We’d motor more in a straight line to where were going and sail less, unless we sailed faster also in a straight line, except when I really wanted to sail.

We’d anchored with Robusta after an overnighter. We’d stayed a second night and not gone ashore that day because Jennifer has migraine. We left early in the morning to have time in King Cove, even though we knew that wind would rise later in the day. Robusta followed a few hours later as the breeze started.

Continue reading “People, Lies, Rewards and Wind”

A few posts may out of order because we lost cellular service before I could post.

East Anchor Cove, Unimak Island, the Aleutians, AK, US, 27-JUL-2020 — Jennifer is down with a Migraine today. Her CPAP has been giving her issues. We we think it might be mold. Not using it resulted in the migraine. If she is able to be up later, we’ll try to get that taken care of.

This morning we are in East Anchor Cove, which is a place fishing boats come to offload and to sleep.

The smaller fishing boats are worked by two people.

Last evening, a first boat worked by two men stopped by to ask us where we had come from. Cruising boats are pretty rare here. The opening sentence from the man driving, who was probably my age, was that Caro Babbo was an attractive boat. Continue reading “East Anchor Cove, A dead whale, overnight passage and a migraine”