(59º55.76’N, 141º22.54’W — Icy Bay) We have had a long day today which began with a 7:00am departure and a 10:15pm arrival to Icy Bay, about 50 miles from Yukatat Bay, where Scott and Raime will depart for home tomorrow evening. The seas were rough and choppy all day long and we were entertained by Scott reading from Raime’s book, “11,000 Years Lost” and are all hoping to finish it tomorrow! We saw ice again as we came into our anchorage as we are near another calving glacier. Scott has been helping Raime keep up with her math by making up thought problems. She figured out all the days and number of people and came up with the fact that I’d prepared 1,302 meals on this journey since leaving Southwest Harbor, Maine. Wow!

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.

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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.

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I called Walt from the San Jose Airport at 8:30 am and was glad to learn his cell was still working. They had left the dock in Nome at 6:30 ADT and were encountering two meter seas as they left the Norton Sea heading for the Bering Sea. The weather forecast was for two to three meter seas on Thursday with winds and seas calming Friday and Saturday. As Randy said, they are headed for the area where the World’s Deadliest Catch was filmed and have more than a thousand miles to go before the trip is finished.  We know that they will continue to sense God’s protection as we surround them in prayer.

Walt reported Pat’s culinary skills were a big hit with his beans and fresh baked bread!

We spent Wednesday getting ready for our crew shift and for the continuing trip to Dutch Harbor. Laundry was done in a bar called Duds and Suds! In between we were back to Airport Pizza to upload more yummy goodies and down load our emails. We got back to Geraldine and put on CLEAN sheets, got out fresh towels and stowed our clean duds as Kip packed up for home. Pat assumed the chef roll and got the beans cooking as well as his next version of Geraldine bowl bread. Kip was in the way making another batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies to beak Ed in on the ice cream sandwich routine! We all took a checker cab to the Nome airport and within 30 minutes Ed Wright had his Geraldine hat on and had joined the crew while Kip went into the security line to board her red eye plane flight to San Jose. We were amazed that you could park right outside the passenger entrance and walk inside.

I felt very funny leaving the crew with more of the trip yet to be accomplished.  They say if you do something consistently for a month you have a new habit.  After more than two months aboard Geraldine and living a new way completely I sure have new habits!  I will miss not only Walt but Pat and Shane so much as we have become family together in this journey through the Arctic. We hope Ed develops his “sea legs” quickly and finds his portion of the trip a satisfying adventure as well.  We encouraged him to come with meds and patches to help him accommodate! 

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