There was a man pressure washing the dock who helped us tie up and then swished off the starboard side and stern swim step as he worked.  The step had been wet for so long these three and a half months it was bright green and is now looking much better.  We met the couple across the dock and they quickly offered to get us to the airport Saturday morning and let us use their car to go buy anti-freeze to winterize Geraldine.  All the way we have been blessed by such nice people willing to stop and lend us a hand over and over again. It was time for more Peet’s awards!

There was much to be done to get packed up, cleaned up, winterized and thrown out.  We worked until after midnight and slept our last night aboard for a while.  What a deep sense of joy and satisfaction we have for having had such an adventure. Thirty four vessels under sixty feet have done this trip in history and we know of five more, including us,  that made it through the Northwest Passage this summer.  We want to thank our crew; Pat, Shane, Skip, Ed, Randy, Jenny, Quinlan, and finally Scott and Raime.  Without them we could not have done it.  We also want to thank all of you who followed along, encouraging us and praying for us so faithfully.  God has been faithful to see us through and watch over us wherever we went, just as He promised.  We also want to thank all the people who have been so generous to help us along the way in so many ways.  You all gave us the trip of a lifetime and you were able to come along with us through this web site Scott and Randy created and maintained so faithfully.

I am writing this from Los Gatos after having flown home on Saturday.  We will be posting the final pictures and there may be some other updates of pictures here and there to complete this record of our journey through the Northwest Passage in the summer of 2008.

We went by Boussole Head where we saw a huge arch worn through the rocks. Further along the way we saw whales spouting and two tail shots with more beautiful mountain vistas. We traversed Cross Sound into fog momentarily, then came out and motored down Lisianski Straight, spotting a pair of bald eagles watching us from the tree tops!  We then went back out into the Gulf of Alaska to later come inland to Kalinin Bay where we are now at anchor.

The forecast is for rain tomorrow and we expect to reach Sitka by noon with no outside passages required! For a moment we had cell coverage and called Visa to pay the bill and the marina to confirm our reservation for a slip.

One more day left of this amazing adventure. We are so grateful for the privilege to do something so extraordinary and the safety afforded us and our wonderful crew. Praise the Lord!

Today I wrote out the recipes needed to write a journal cookbook, “Cooking your way through the Northwest Passage.” Maybe it can help offset the fuel bill!!!

We entered Lituya Bay with the aid of range markers. The usable entrance is about 50 yards wide and can be entered at near slack water only. Our timing was off by 1/2 hour and breakers were occurring on either side of the entrance. This bay was made famous by the tsunami in July, 1958 which induced an avalanche stripping the bay of all trees up to 1720 feet. You still can see evidence of the destruction but there are thankfully many new trees. Kip spotted a bull moose among them. Three glaciers feed the bay; all three are moving a lot of dirt. My chart is outdated as the side bays no longer exist.

Tomorrow we enter familiar territory for the first time since June.

Editor’s Note: We have included pictures all the way back to Seward, where Shane and Rebecca departed.  There are also a few videos of the Kodiak Bears we saw.  Enjoy!

We did cut a corner early this morning which saved us three hours and are so grateful we did not repeat running aground like we did in Tuk. The depth got as low as 5′7″ but we slid through this time. Raime has been a delight and she has done really well in such a small space. We will really miss them as they head for home.

We had some company along the way today when two pods of Dahl porpoises played around the boat. They stayed with us for a very long time, at least half an hour. On their second visit, there were so many of them that it seemed that we could see several of them surfacing everywhere we looked! It was as if the original few we saw had gone and gathered all of their friends and family to have fun around the Geraldine!

We saw two rainstorms on the radar today, and ended up having hail as we went through them. We also saw a complete rainbow that ended directly in front of the boat. We kept heading that way, but the gold was elusive. We had fun reading, napping, talking, and ooohing and ahhhing with the porpoises. It was a great day here on the Geraldine.

Today they traveled about 75 nautical miles in perfectly calm seas. Forecast for the next few days is similar, which has them excited. They’ve been seeing the first signs of fall—the scrub & moss above tree line on the mountains is changing to gold and red. Meanwhile they saw a handful of glaciers and were visited by Dahl Porpoises again. Scott and Raime were able to get to the nose of the boat and look down into the crystal clear water and see them swimming under the boat and playing in the bow wave! They also reported seeing a whale fin of unidentified variety and several black and white-footed albatross. In further wildlife sightings, they added mountain goats to the growing list. Eagle-eye Raime spotted them on a two foot wide ledge above a 500 foot cliff. As I was talking to them they saw a bald eagle nest and ran outside to get a better look.

They’ve been trying to eat up all the left-over provisions from the adventure. Tonight they had mini-thanksgiving dinner with a stuffed chicken (purchased and frozen since Halifax). In spite of being well traveled, the crew reports that the chicken was tasty. The apple pie came out of the oven and they promptly hung up on me!

I did get a tentative itinerary from them. Tonight they are at Snug Harbor on Knight Island in Prince William Sound (site of the Exxon Valdez leak). Next stops are Copper River tomorrow, Icy Bay on Monday, and Yakutat on Tuesday. Scott & Raime fly home from Yakutat on Wednesday. Then it is up to Kipper and ye Salty Dog Walter to bring the Geraldine the rest of the way down to Sitka. They should be there by the weekend and fly home. And none to soon, all this apple pie talk has me hungry!

We were treated to beautiful views of Petrof, Yalik, McArthur, Bear, and Godwin Glaciers; lots of ice, thankfully most on land!!!  We snuck through Nuka and McArthur Passes, as well as squeezed between two islands with widths down to 120 yards.  The glaciers were absolutely amazing as they wound from the high valleys down to the sea, and the blues were tremendous when the sun lit them up.  We stopped counting the waterfalls; however we did name a few in passing.  Most of the water was glacial in nature, as it had a blue milky color as the glaciers emptied into the waters we traveled.

This will also mark the disembarking point for Rebecca and I.   We look forward to following the Geraldine’s last steps home to Sitka where the journey will be complete.  It was a fantastic day with innumerable beautiful sights, and a great milestone as Geraldine clicked over 7,000 miles since leaving Maine.

Shane and Rebecca

Editor’s Note:  Please note that we have posted some of our bear pictures a few days back.  Enjoy!