Torries

52

january/february 2017

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Kenai Fjords, cruising along the Alaska

Peninsula to the Aleutians with stops in

Kukak Bay, Geographic Harbor, Agripina

Bay, Chignik, Sand Point and King Cove

before leaving Celeste for the winter

in Unalaska (also commonly known as

Dutch Harbor). But the weather didn’t

want to cooperate.

At fi rst it wasn’t bad. We left the

Kenai Peninsula in light air, taking the

most direct route, 130 nautical miles to

Kukak Bay between the Barren Islands

and Afognak, the island just north of

Kodiak. We were soon engulfed in fog,

listening for fi shing boats until the wind

died and our Yanmar drowned them out.

I passed the Barren Islands in my grave-

yard watch, the sea heaving sickeningly

despite the calm. We learned later from

fi shermen that the safer course would

have been the less direct one, north of

the islands, as standing waves can form

between the islands when the tide sets

against a blow.

Dawn brought one of the most spec-

tacular landfalls in our 35,000 nautical

miles to date. Mountains gripped in ice

climbed into the sky, dusted by alpen-

glow. A layer of fog clung to the shore,

so that the glaciers seemed to fl oat

above the sea. As the sun rose, a 10-knot

breeze sprang up on our quarter, and

Celeste bowled down to Kukak Bay under

spinnaker. The wilderness around us —

striking, glaciated and immense — felt

as if it was likely unchanged since mam-

moths roamed its hills. A bend in the

bay revealed a vast river delta, utterly

deserted. Awe-inspiring as it was, this

delta also made anchoring tricky: Its

sands extended a long way out and then

abruptly dropped off. We were fi nally

able to anchor in about 17 feet, and as

we settled down to dinner, an enormous

brown bear ambled down the beach

astern of us.

We woke to a still and shining world.

Given that such weather doesn’t usually

happen here in August, or at all, we prob-

ably should have pushed onward. Instead

we explored ashore. I’ve experienced the

immensity of an ocean crossing and the

forbidding beauty of high peaks, but as

I stepped onto the sand, I knew this was

something diff erent. Nowhere else have

I felt so small in such a vast wilderness —

one that truly belongs to the bears and

wolves whose myriad prints crisscrossed

the delta. I couldn’t help thinking that

this feeling of acutely sharpened senses

must have been a permanent state for the

people who’d crossed from Siberia thou-

sands of years ago.

The fair weather held the next day, so we

beat to Geographic Harbor against 15-knot

winds and a 1-knot current. The 35-mile

sail was within Shelikof Strait, which

runs between the Alaska Peninsula and

Kodiak Island and is a body of water uni-

versally abhorred by seasoned fi shermen.

Their tactic to avoid the tidal currents and

washing- machine seas is to hug the coast,

advice we heeded to our benefi t.

GEO

graphic Harbor is nearly

landlocked, and a poorly

charted rock makes the narrow entrance

nerve-wracking. To seaward, a small

archipelago breaks the swell, so you have

little idea of conditions in Shelikof Strait

when inside the harbor. The mountains

rimming the bay also cut off VHF sig-

nals, so it was diffi cult to get NOAA

forecasts. Of course, all this makes

Geographic Harbor ideally sheltered, but

when the weather deteriorated outside,

we were blissfully unaware.

We saw several brown spots moving

along a stream on our way in, and as we

anchored, I spotted some ruffl ed fur

and two ears in the water astern of us:

a bear swimming! Thinking we would

have only one day in Geographic Harbor,

we launched the dinghy to observe

the wildlife. Our swimming bear was

preening himself in the shallows. We

The beauty of high-latitude cruising comes with a price: Often you need to head out in less-than-ideal conditions. Thirty -

fi ve knots from the southeast (above left) was the best weather we could get for leaving Geographic Harbor. Tufted puffi ns

(above right) are common along the Alaska Peninsula. The colorful seabird heads to land only for nesting season.

ONCE UNDERWAY IN THE MORNING, WE FOUND 40-KNOT WI NDS

NOAA PREDICTED WORSENING CONDITIONS. W

52

january/february 2017

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CW0217_FEAT4_Alaska.indd 52 11/21/16 10:44 AM