Safe in Dutch Harbor

September 8th, 2008 by Kip "Galley Master" Jones

I just spoke to both Charlotte who had spoken to Walt, and Kathy who had spoken to Pat. They are all now safely in Dutch Harbor in a boat slip, having arrived sometime around midnight last night. They are tied up at a marina boat slip and slept soundly until about 9:00 am having crossed through the roughest waters of the trip, 20 plus foot seas. Pat will be heading for home on a red eye flight tomorrow from Dutch Harbor and will arrive home Wednesday morning. I know how tired they must be because when the seas are so rough, even when your shift is over, sleep can be really hard to get when you are being tossed about. We can rejoice in their safe keeping under God’s protection once again. How good it was to hear from both gals that they were there and safe.

In Walt’s own words:

Water water everywhere and no place to go. The Bering Sea kept its reputation and poured it on us for the past 3 & a half days non stop. We saw winds of 20 to 30 kt. and seas from 10 to 15 feet. This was no way to introduce Ed to cruising or for Pat to finish his. Pat didn’t feel well either but seems perkier now at the dock. All of us are dog tired & will sleep well tonight tied to a new floating dock at Dutch Harbor. I may have said it before but the defrost system failed yesterday so that is on one more thing to be repaired. That turned out to not be a huge problem because the air temperature was warm – at least compared to what we had been seeing.  We broke one glass that lept out from its storage location to sudden destruction. We will stay here tomorrow to refuel & patch things together. Pat will fly home from here on Tuesday and the three of us will proceed to Kodiak Island where we will say goodbye to Ed and Hello to Rebecca Robertson, Shane’s wife, and son Scott & granddaughter Raime. The group will move Geraldine to Sitka where she will live for the winter. By the way the Aleutian islands are spectacular – mountainous with snow still remaining. Ed spotted a Humpback whale which surfaced about 100 feet from the boat. We hope to see more.

2 Responses to “Safe in Dutch Harbor”

  1. Randy Jones Says:

    20+ foot seas?? That means the entire boat would disappear in the trough of every wave. Not fun. Of course it always could be worse, but congratulations on making it to Dutch Harbor. Thanks for sticking around Pat, I’m sure that would have been even less fun with only 3 people. You’ve tested Geraldine’s metal and your own, and passed with flying colors. Go have a well deserved steak at Outback just like you planned!

  2. Chuck Single Says:

    9/9/08
    Walt, by my map, you have about 1,000 miles to go (Sitka, Alaska). Perhaps the seas will be a bit calmer as you are south of the Aleutian Islands. If you hug the coasts, it might be 1,300 miles. Perhaps you will be in Sitka by 9/20/08 (?).

    I had the pleasure of talking to Kip from Los Gatos, Saturday 9/6/08. We chatted or more than an hour. It was so good to talk directly, although you know I respect and enjoy this means of communication.

    I remember 50 ft waves in a 300 ft troop ship that got within 200 miles of the Aleutians trying to avoid a typhoon. We had 30 ft of freeboard to the first deck, and the waves crashed over the deck above us as we plowed into each wave. This was in 1945 as the Navy tried to get me to Hawaii. We ended up taking a “great circle” route past Japan to the Phillipines, and ran out of food for the last two days. I was afraid the boat would break in half and dump the 5,000 troops into the sea. Not fun !! 5,000 tropps, all seasick makes a big mess.

    20 ft waves for a 49 ft boat must be equally impressive. I presume you also plowed into the waves (a 20 ft wave “broadsides” should tip your boat over, right ?).

    Enjoy the coastal scenery, and do some fishing. Hopefully you don’t have to run 24 hours per day now.

    God be with you on your way to Sitka. Much Love, Dad

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I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go — Genesis 28:15