(70º31.4′ N, 127º23.2 ‘ W — Amundsen Gulf) Greetings from The Geraldine! We have enjoyed a quiet and calm day today with one knot of wind and flat seas! Yea! After a good night’s sleep at a firm anchor, we started out at first light and have put lots of water under the boat so far today. The sky looked overcast and stormy but it’s been so pleasant. We saw some whales and a pair of birds we haven’t seen before that escorted us for a long time. The male had long plumes but the female did not as you’ll see in the pictures. We wish we had a book on the names of the birds we are seeing.

Our plan is to run through the night again as bad weather is coming behind us and we want to get to Tuktoyaktuk tomorrow afternoon. So all of us have been napping through the day to be ready for our night shifts. Kip is making plans to leave the journey for home in either Prudhoe Bay or Barrow to get back to start up in BSF. Ed Wright, Walt’s friend from the BSF School Program, will be joining the crew then for a few weeks.

Pat is downstairs making bread at the moment,in the fine Renaudin French tradition of four generations of bakers on his mother’s side of the family. Shane is driving, Walt is reading “90 degrees North, the quest for the North Pole”, and I am writing you! We successfully made 30 gallons of water for the second time and are hopeful that running at the lower pressure will do the trick so there will be no more failures.

Tonight we ate Arctic Char pasta; do you detect a theme? Reminds me of Forrest Gump and the many ways to fix shrimp! Char baked, Char pasta, Char chowder, Char sandwiches, Char scrambled eggs, Chicken-fried Char, Char a-la-mode, Char tartar…..we love it! Pat is hoping Arctic Char also restores hair loss! 🙂

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(69º 48.78′ N, 121º 52.77′ W — Keat’s Point) Tonight we are almost due north of our home in Los Gatos. We got email today! We tried a SSB connection through Friday Harbor, Washington, [ed. the radio communicates over vast distances to antenna stations scattered around the globe] and made our best connection in days. The harbor we are stopped in is beautiful; low lying cliffs of rock on two sides with a beach in the middle. It will be nice having a chance to sleep quietly for the night. We have been running since Wednesday and today were in very rough seas again for most of the day.

About 3:00 am Walt and saw a cargo ship coming toward us and hailed them on the radio. They are on their way to St. John, Newfoundland. Later in the day we thought we saw two sail boats and hailed them twice on our radio with no response. Turns out they were unmelted ice on the shore! Rather cold and unresponsive! We had Arctic Char sandwiches for lunch which was like tuna only better. Then we had char again for dinner. It is simply delicious. We had a problem with water accumulating on the V berth floor. Turns out the anchor locker weep holes were plugged with mud and a little sleuth and plumber work on Shane’s behalf and we are all cleaned out.

Editor’s Note: We are trying to organize a crew change. Kip needs to get home to lead her BSF class, so she’s planning to fly out in a week or so. In searching for a replacement crew member, we drew a name out of a hat containing all the people who have commented on the site. The winner is… Ed Wright. Ed will be joining the Geraldine at either Prudhoe Bay or Point Barrow. In conversation with the crew, they’ve mentioned the weather has not been as placid as they’d like. With wave reaching 15 feet, the largest of the trip, a fresh set of eyes and hands will be welcome. Thank you Ed!

Double Editor’s Note: Due to a severe drop-off in website comments, I thought I’d make it clear: we didn’t draw Ed out of a hat, his joining the crew was pre-arranged. Comment away without fear!

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******Here are pictures from 8/22 you might enjoy seeing!*****

You can see Keats Point at sunset and then again in the morning the next day.  The chain picture is of the chain locker weep hole plugged with mud and thus the water leak all over the V-berth floor.

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(68º30.8′ N, 110º40.7′ W — Coronation Gulf) I received a satellite phone call from the crew this morning. The radio signal has been very weak recently so our normal messaging routine was disrupted. They only stayed in Cambridge Bay for one night before pressing on Westward. While in Cambridge Bay they met Peter Semotiuk, the radio contact who guides all the boats through the Northwest Passage. It was nice to put a face to a voice, and thank him in person for his help.

As they moved West the weather has been rough with 10 foot waves washing over the front of the boat and up the windshield (waveshield). Thankfully the waves were coming from head on so the boat was able to buck them without as much rolling. But this means tiring work and constant switching of drivers. Today the weather improved and is calm, clear and about 38ºF when they called. The Forecast says it should hold like this for about three days. Yes! In other weather news, as it gets later in the summer it is starting to get really dark at night instead of just dusk. This means that they are spending less time driving at night. Still, they are able to cover about 130 miles per day.

Today they saw a new sailboat also going West. It was Australians Peter & Maeva Elliot aboard their 34 foot aluminum sloop Tyhina. The crews had spoken over the radio via Peter Semotiuk, but was the first time the two crossed paths. They are also headed for Alaska, so it’s probably not the last time! You can read about their adventure and see photos at: http://www.tyhina.com/

The crew reports the scenery has dulled. There’s no lovely icebergs to look at! Ha! Also the landscape has flattened out and is nearly as flat as the sea. A far cry from the majestic mountains and towering bergs of Baffin Island. This means that they’ve turned to baking as the chief source of entertainment. Muffins and bread were mentioned. My mouth watered. Too much information?

I also got a tentative schedule from the crew (keep in mind this is subject to weather and whim): 
8/24 – Tuk (Tuktoyaktuk), NWT
8/27 –  Prudhoe Bay, AK
8/29 – Point Barrow, AK
9/03 – Nome, AK

Also note: The satellite image in the website map is NOT built with current images. It is stitched together from images taken at different times of year over the past few years. Often if you zoom in, you suddenly change from summer to winter. I mention it, because if you zoom in on todays coordinates, you’ll see the area choked with ice. Not so. — Randy

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A while back, Kip sent a batch of photos they had collected of inukshuks they’d encountered during their travels through Nunavut. They are a manmade pile or stones that mark harbors and hunting grounds. It is also featured on the Nunavut flag, and on the Winter Olympics logo for Vancouver 2010. I’ve been waiting for a lull in the news before posting. Here is a link where you can find out more about them. Without further ado:

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We left Cambridge Bay and passed another boat named Tyhina with a couple making the same journey as we are only a few weeks behind us.  The Canadian Coast Guard ship Amudsen was anchored behins us in Cambridge Bay doing Arctic research.  After leaving in sunshine we encountered some bad weather.  Shane the man just had to go out front to the bow to make a cover for the chain anchor locker which was starting to link.  As he went our a wave just happened to come along and drench him!  All had a good laugh including Shane!

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