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| Holy Grail under sail on Lake Union |
This year, the plan for S/V Holy Grail is a bit more ambitious; a 3-1/2 month sailing to Alaska that includes an 8-10 day crossing of the Gulf of Alaska. You can follow our progress at https://forecast.predictwind.
Holy Grail’s 2023 route takes us directly offshore and across the Gulf of Alaska. The plan is to depart Seattle on or near May 15, 2023, take a fast route to Kodiak, the farthest place we can get to, then travel slowly along the coast back to Seattle. Weather is a key component in timing, as is distance. Highlights of some of our stops are, Kenai Fjords, Prince William Sound, Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage. This plan has us transiting in one direction and taking advantage of Southerly winds, effectively doubling what we can see and do. The typical Seattle-Seattle route typically only gets you as far north as Glacier Bay because of the time and distances involved as well as the general lack of wind and the challenges in traveling at night in the Inside Passage. 
Friday, May 12, 2023
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| Breadcrumbs from sea trials |
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| Spinnaker sporting the University of Washington Purple |
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| Paul handling bow lines in Ballard Locks |
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| Photo credit: Captain Bob from Washington State Ferry Puyallup. |
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| Sunset at Port Ludlow |
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| New Dungeness Lighthouse |
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| Holy Grail at Fuel Dock in Port Angeles |
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| Paul and Shirley saying goodbye |
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| Ship emerging from the fog |
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| Peering into the fog |
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| Chris and Dan at Neah Bay |
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| French Watch Schedule 6-6-4-4-4 |
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| Rounding Tatoosh Island at Neah Bay as the fog magically lifted |
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| Route from Seattle, WA to Kodiak, AK |
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| Waves |
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| Dan with Coho Salmon |
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| First view of Kodiak at dusk |
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| Patricia Prince and her uncle, Kodiak resident and native Tlingit |
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| Dan, Chris, Patricia at White Sands |
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| Old Gun placements at Abercrombie Historic State Park |
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| Fresh halibut |
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| Dan after installing the new alternator |
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| Kodiak Pass |
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| Kodiak Island |
The time in Kodiak has been restorative and allowed us the time and resources to get into the groove of living a bit closer to the land and leaving the fast pace of Seattle behind, but it is now time to move on. The current plan is to depart through Kodiak Pass past Whale Island and into Whale Pass toward Afognak Island. As part of the Kodiak Borough administration, Afognak Island is known for it's tranquility, untouched nature, and opportunities for outdoor adventures, which is exactly what we are looking for. We look forward to further exploring and discovering the richness and beauty of Alaska.
Friday
- June 2, 2023 – Whale pass at record speed
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| Passing under the Near Island Bridge in Kodiak |
Following the guidance of the navigation buoys, we navigated through the channel, basking in the sun and making the departure from Kodiak uneventful. We passed the docked ferry and as we drove under the Near Island bridge, we couldn’t help but reminisce about the places Patricia had shown us on the land. Making a sharp left turn we steered past the mouth of Monashka Bay and into the channel past Spruce Island into the opening of Kizhuyak Bay. As Dan says, “You can’t catch fish if you don’t have a line I the water” so we cast a couple of hand lines into the water with hopes of catching another fish. As it turned out we did not catch fish but did pull in some seaweed which we made into delicious halibut roll. We used seaweed like kale and even cut up the stem and cooked it with leftover carrots and quinoa.
The wind freshened and the sails were raised. It wasn’t the
plan, but we realized that Port Lions, our evening destination, was unsafe due
to severe wind and waves. We had a good point of sail, so we jibed turning our
direction into Whale Pass that would take us to the other side of Kodiak Island.
We went through the infamous Whale Pass with foul current at its terrifying
most peak! The current picked up a mile before the mouth of the pass and at
about 2-miles into the pass we were regularly experiencing peak speeds through
water at 8-9 knots against a 6-knot current. We made it through tired and
exhausted, dropped sails, and with a sense of relief, we found a safe anchorage
and tucked into Raspberry Island.
We settled into the evening enjoying a dinner of halibut tacos and retired.
Saturday
– June 3-5, 2023 – Geographic Harbor: Puffins, Whales, Dall’s Purposes
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| Watching out for wildlife whales, puffins, pidgin guillemot, eagles, etc.! |
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| Launching the new Striker dingy |
Finally anchored, we prepared, ate, and cleaned up from dinner then proceeded to discuss how to use the sourdough starter. We fed the starter and set it out in anticipation of having sourdough pancakes and Paul’s special bagels for breakfast.
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| One of 4 bears foraging on the beach |
The weather, as promised, started to clear in the afternoon
so we decided to hop in the dingy and go exploring. We pulled up on a beach and found
a bear track which we followed up until it became too overgrown to follow. Our stay in Geographic Harbor produced a
bounty of mussels, seaweed, and fiddleheads that provided us with some
wonderful foraged meals.
A noise appeared that again captured everyone’s attention. It turned out to be the water pump. The engine compartment was opened and after retrieving the dropped C clamp that holds the lid, which is now tied on, as well as a lost temperature sensor, it was determined that the belt on the pump was just fine and there was no water spraying around. All the water valves were turned on and the pump still didn’t work. The foot pumps, however, worked perfectly. Dan sat with the problem for a bit then went back to his library where he found a Nigel Calder book that suggested there was an air bubble in the line. The recommendation was to open a faucet until water stops running then turn on the pump. That was exactly the issue! Once the air bubble was cleared, all faucets worked beautifully!
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| Anchor Watch trail |
While being woken up during the night might not be the most enjoyable experience, it's important to set an anchor watch alarm. Being alerted to any movement beyond the parameters set allows potential issues to be addressed before they become critical. The nights in Geographic Harbor were not very restful due to the contour of the bottom and the alarming way the land dried as the tide rose and fell so close to our boat but it did, provide some peace of mind that we were not dragging.
Tuesday June 6, 2023 – Motoring to Foul Bay
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| Leather star nestled into kelp on a rock |
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| Sunflower Star |
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| Black-legged Kittiwake Rookery |
We came back to the boat and Paul cooked up a fabulous
dinner of beet salad and kielbasa. It was midnight by the time we finished and
cleaned up and tucked into bed.
Wednesday,
June 7, 2023 – Gunkholing and pickled bull kelp
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| Bull kelp |
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| Pickled Bull Kelp |
The weather prediction was unfavorable, so we decided on another lay day. This seemed a good time to break out the canning supplies and made up a batch of pickled bull kelp, otherwise known as Nereocystis which in Greek means, mermaid’s bladder. Canning on Holy Grail is done on deck with a portable burner, the type people often cook Thanksgiving Turkeys with. The preparation is done in the galley, but the boiling of the water bath is done on deck. With the bull kelp processing done, Paul again used his culinary creativity to fix halibut steamed in a seaweed wrap.
Thursday
June 8, 2023 – Miserable Crossing to Port Graham via the Baren Islands
Departing early, we again picked our way through the rocks
of Foul Harbor but this time in the rain and fog trying to match what we saw in
real life with what was on the chart. We discovered that, contrary to popular
belief, the raster charts can be very useful as a backup to the vector charts as
they can have unknown rocks charted that we don’t see on vector charts. I
suppose it depends where you are. Both can certainly be of use so don’t
discount one of the other!
Once out of Foul Bay and back into Shelikof Strait, we set a
course toward Homer and retired to the warmth of the Pilot House. The weather report
indicated the wind would be on the nose in the Strait but as soon as we rounded
the tip of Shuyak Island, the topmost island of the Kodiak Archipelago, and
entered Stevenson Entrance we should have winds of 20-30 knots on the beam
allowing us raise sails. This was not what we experienced. The wind was
absolutely howling between Kodiak and the tip of the Kenai Peninsula, and we
were just getting beat up by the wind against wave action! This pilot house
doesn’t have great views of the outside through the windows, so we were primarily
watching the charts for AIS signals to navigate. As Holy Grail took a wave on
the beam and rolled to one side, we were startled by “ghost ship.” close enough
to read the name, Alaska Pearl! We all took a deep breath of relief that we had
not actually hit this boat.
Being a bit shaken by this experience, we set an eye toward
the Baren Islands, a cluster of islands about halfway to our destination which looked
like a good place to stop and take refuge. Ishagat Island had some lovely
looking, west facing bays that seemed like they would be good protection from
the southeast winds. We beat our way into them marveling at their beauty as we
entered the supposed protection. What we found instead were some wind speeds of
up to 40 knots in places! The idea of taking refuge here was quickly abandon. We
took the opportunity to raise the main sail in hopes of stabilizing the boat
for the rest of the trip. As we navigated away from Ishagat Island, we could
see the beautiful snowcapped mountains of Kenai Peninsula. After picking our
way past Danger Point and Magnet Rock we were relived to arrive at Port Graham
where we found a calm anchorage. We all agreed, this was the worst day sailing
of the entire trip.
Friday,
June 9-10, 2023 – Homer, Alaska
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| Homer Harbor - Kenai Peninsula in the background |
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| Rafted to Fishing Boat Alchemy |
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| All we need is a salmon under our arms! |
Once at the Gear Shed, we chased Kate off a forklift to get
information about Dickenson Heater Parts. She seems to be the resident expert of all
things marine. She was able to point us to the correct replacement parts but
was reluctant to provide much more advise due to liability issues. Jessie, the cab driver, tracked us down in the Gear Shed, just as expected, and took us to the Farmer’s Market where
we bought fresh greens and radishes. Rather than take the taxi again, we hiked
a mile or so to the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Visitor’s center
then across the street to Safeway for reprovisioning. Jessie showed up promptly
when we called and we shared the cab a short distance to Subway with a lady
that had the most impressive collection of beanie baby stuffed toys you could imagine. We delivered the groceries back to the boat then I did laundry while Dan
replaced the parts in the Dickenson Heater. It seems to be working well. We feasted on baked halibut and radish greens for dinner. We got fish parts from people
cleaning fish for crabbing. Did some planning for next journey to Halibut Cove
and Kachemak Bay State Park, the first state park in Alaska. Expect to hike in
and see a glacier up close and retired for the evening.
Sunday,
June 11, 2023 – The first glacier: Grewingk Glacier
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| Grewingk Glacier |
We found a perfect anchorage, launched the dingy, and headed
to shore. This was the first time we used the wheels to get the dinghy above
the tide line and we learned that even with wheels, it was a challenge to push
and pull it through the sand. Once it was secured though, we headed toward the
trailhead. Despite the warning of a momma and bear cub sighting we set off on
the 4-mile hike to Grewingk Glacier. A cold wind and ice bergs floating in the
water greeted us at the shore of Grewingk Glacier Lake. It was exhilarating to
see the first glacier of the trip!
Monday
June 12, 2023 - Seldovia, AK
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| Art in Seldovia |
Tuesday
June 13, 2023 – Entering Kenai Fjords to Chatham Cove
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| Entrance to Chatham Cove |
Once anchored, I began preparation on a 15-bean soup with
dried beans that had been soaking most of the day. As we relaxed into the sunny
afternoon, we noticed a seaplane drop off passengers that were picked up by a
red skiff that had been launched from one of the larger anchored boats. Before
long, that red skiff was making its way to Holy Grail. We learned this boat was
a research vessel that was furloughed for the summer and being used as a sort
of floating resort. Clients were being flown in from Homer to fish, waterski,
and otherwise enjoy the pristine nature Alaska has to offer.
During the chat, we were cautioned about the tide rips and
steep, choppy seas that should be given caution especially on an ebb current
with either a strong west or southeast wind going around Point Dick. In addition,
we were told about McCarty Glacier on McCarty Peninsula. It’s a little visited
glacier due to the rugged shoreline and the submerged McCarty Fjord moraine bar,
a remnant from the glacier’s Little Ice Age advance that crosses the fjord.
This shallow moraine makes the entrance into the 16-mile fjord perilous. We
were advised to anchor Holy Grail outside the moraine bar and take the skiff
into the fjord to view the calving glacier. A 30-mile round trip in the small 10
foot dingy doesn’t seem wise. We will have to think on this idea.
The anchor watch warning went off around 2am and again at
3am, but it wasn’t serious. Around 5am, however, I was disoriented by the
thought that Dan was our pulling the anchor. As the grogginess left me, I saw
that Dan was up and watching the Anchor Alarm. We decided the anchor had drug in
a direction away from the shore and seemed to have reset. The weather was
overcast, which we weren’t expecting but the winds were as expected from the
previous day’s forecast. Given we were both awake, we made coffee and ate some
breakfast while we monitored the situation. Our target departure time was
around 10am in order to take the best advantage of currents and winds going
through Chugach Passage and past Pearl Island to Picnic Harbor in Rocky Bay so
we both went back to sleep.
Wednesday,
June 14, 2023 - Port Chatham to Picnic Harbor
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| Leaving Picnic Harbor |
Friday
Jun 16 - 17 2023 – Picnic Cove -> Berger Bay around Gore Point
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| Gore Point - Southern most tip of Kenai Peninsula |
Berger Bay enchanted us with small islets, wildlife, and remnants of a former native society in the form of Culturally Modified Trees (CMT). Spruce and Hemlock forests were a valued resource for the native Sugpiaq. They used the limbs, roots, needles, and cones and harvested the bark, pitch, and wood which was used for food, medicine, dye, and construction material. They peeled and pulled sheets of bark from the trees to be used as siding, roofing material, bowls, and food containers. This activity killed the trees, and the stark bleached sentries remain as a reminder of their presence. We launched the dingy, set a crab trap, and explored the bay before retiring for the night.
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| Morning in Berger Bay |
Saturday morning presented a rising barometer of 1016 and 45
degrees. We hopped in the dingy to retrieve the crab trap (empty) and explore the
bay yet again. We were absolutely enchanted by seals who surrounded us and
clearly set up some sort of communication system. Some would simply observe
then dive silently under the water while others would dive with a splash. We
killed the motor on the dingy and floated silently, observing each other. We
ultimately floated into an area where we wondered if pupping was occurring
because they became more agitated and more obviously uncomfortable with our
presence. We rowed away and started the motor at a respectful distance and left
them to do their seal thing.
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| Yalik Glacier at hard over point (where you turn right) |
The day’s excitement was yet to come as we nosed into
Midnight Cove and set the anchor. A non-floating line had been used as a bridle
to pull the dingy and as luck would have it, that line snagged in the
propeller. We were able to unwind some of it by turning the propeller by hand
from deep in the engine room. Though better, the line was still not free and
examining it with an underwater camera revealed there was still line wrapped
around the shaft behind the propeller. It was clear that someone would have to
swim. Though I offered, Dan, making a valiant attempt at chivalry jumped in then
immediately back out. He would have rather come up with any other solution than
dive in that cold 50-degree water. Though I wasn’t anxious to do it, I was
willing. Once underwater, I could see that problem wasn’t serious and what
needed to be done. I instructed Dan on which line to cut then proceeded to
repeatedly dive under the boat unwinding each wrap until the line was free.
Once back on the swim step, I reveled in a warm water shower, not paying any
attention to conserving water! Crisis averted!
Sunday
June 18, 2023 – Thunder Bay via McCarty Fjord Moraine Bar
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| Waterfalls at Thunder Bay |
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| Snowfield we climbed at Thunder Bay |
Monday/Tuesday
June 19 - 20, 2023 – Northwest Passage, Northwest Fjord, and Charter Boats
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| Anchor & Ogive Glaciers in Northwest Fjord |
We spotted one, then another, then multiple boats! As we
neared them, it was clear they were tour boats clearly down for the day from
Seward. Dan marked their positions on the chart assuming these were places of
interest we might investigate. We watched carefully as one of the boats crossed
the “Northwest Passage” moraine bar (not to be confused with THE Northwest Passage,)
entrance into the fjord. It was comfortable to see the boats cross the shallow
moraine bar exactly where we had mapped it.
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| Anchor Glacier from the dinghy |
- Brash Ice – An accumulation of floating ice fragments < six feet in diameter.
- Growler – Blue or greenish in color and > six feet in diameter and < three feet above water.
- Bergy Bit – A cabin size piece of floating ice, showing three to five feet above water.
- Iceberg – A large piece of floating ice showing > 15 feet above water.
The colors, fissures, luminescent glow, and glacier calving was
simply textbook amazing.
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| Holy Grail in the mist |
