8/9 6:30 AM We have the 1st real rain of the trip. Perhaps that is a welcome to SE AK. We have a welder coming this AM to fix the wet exhaust leak we have lived with from nearly the beginning of the trip. Then we will refuel, send Pat to the airport for a CityTeam Board meeting next week (plus he is very eager to see Kathy, “the wife of his life” -7 weeks is a very long time) and be on our way east. We won’t get very far today but we do hope to get through the pass to the other side of the Aleutians.

8/9 midnight We had the wet exhaust welded – another fix! They did the TIG welding in the boat. We refueled at North Pacific Fuel and departed Dutch Harbor at 1:40 PM. We went trough Akutan Pass. This pass is smaller than the Unimak Pass but we wanted out of the wind and waves; it worked. We are at a beautiful anchorage in Seredka Bay on Akun Island. Tomorrow we will head east crossing the Unimak Pass opening but not going through it. Dutch Harbor is a very busy port. They claim more seafood volume than any port in America & I believe it. We watched a processing boat come in; the fish were unloaded already boxed. The Aleutians are drop dead gorgeous when the fog allows you to see.

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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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(57 deg 19′ N, 165 deg 50′ W) Water water everywhere. Since joining the crew of the Geraldine in Nome, we have been traveling south 24/7 with almost no land in site. The seas have ranged from minor waves at best all the way up or down (depending upon your view of waves) to 9-10 foot swells with whitecaps which we are now experiencing in the Bering Sea (so if my writing is choppy you will understand). Currently we are headed south to Dutch Harbor with an expected arrival time of 8-9 PM, Dutch Harbor time, on Sunday. Having a chance to join this adventure has been a blessing and fitting in with the other crew members extremely easy. Hopefully after we pass through these sloppy seas and begin traveling up the south side of the Aleutian Islands we will have calmer waters and some scenery. Not that I don’t mind being on water all day in the middle of what seems like nowhere, but some scenery and calmer waters would be nice.

The boat has just about every conceivable device for keeping in touch with other boats; determining the water depth; communicating with weather personnel, Coast Guard, and friends. I am beginning to get the hang of it all: what all the gauges and dials do and mean, where the necessities are located and especially how to operate them, not to be concerned when I am in a bunk and gravity seems to disappear as the boat suddenly drops down from the top of a wave, and living several days without a shower and when you do get one being limited to three gallons of water (fortunately we are all in the same boat).

Having a great time, wish you were here.

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(58 deg 20′ N, 164 deg 51′ W) Last night wasn’t as bad as forecasted. We had 15 – 20 kt from the SE instead of 20 kt from the NE. We continue to experience failures aboard Geraldine. Last night the blades from the defrost squirrel-cage blower broke off. Wow. I have never heard of that happening before – ever, but it did to us last night so we are without defrost. Fortunately, it is 55 degrees out so the need is not as great right now. In addition, the variable mechanical governor is still slow to respond even after elixirs were added to both the oil & diesel fuel in Nome. We hope to have it looked at in Dutch Harbor.

Today is Pat’s Birthday. He celebrated the first hour of his watch in bed! That was followed by a latte and singing of Happy Birthday (maybe that is why Geraldine is breaking… bad singing?) Kathy just called too which got him beaming.

We are currently about 275 miles north of Dutch Harbor. At our current rate we will arrive very late Sunday or early Monday. Please pray for favorable weather. We are exactly where the “World’s Deadliest Catch” was filmed. The entire Bering Sea seems to be 100′ deep – perfect for crabs but lousy for waves with a long fetch.

This morning Geraldine will have completed 6000 NM since departing Maine.

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