Arriving at Kodiak

27 Jun Arriving at Kodiak

                                                                                                                    Kodiak Island

Arriving in Kodiak, Saint Paul Harbor looked like the obvious choice. Closer to town, closer to the marine stores, closer to everything. The harbormaster had other ideas.

Every harbor of any size has one. The harbormaster is the person who runs the show at the dock level: assigning slips and moorings, collecting fees, managing the comings and goings of vessels, and generally keeping order in what can be a very busy and complicated piece of waterfront real estate. In a working fishing port like Kodiak, that’s no small job. Robert was Saint Herman’s version of the position, and he was good at it.

He met us at the dock on arrival and informed us, with the authority of someone who has delivered this news many times, that Starr was too “big” for Saint Paul and we’d be mooring at Saint Herman instead after some attempts at negotiation, we took our marbles and accepted. Saint Herman sits across a narrow channel from Kodiak town, on a small piece of land called Near Island. The name is accurate. You can see the waterfront, the shops, and the streets of town from the dock. A 100-foot bridge connects Near Island to the mainland, easily crossed by bicycle, which is exactly what we did in addition to renting a truck to explore the island!.

                                                                                            One of the more “functional” Fishing boats in Kodiak

                                                                               Even though she was a little rusty they kept her going!

Robert the Harbor master met us at the dock. He took our lines, learned every name aboard within ten minutes, and started with stories before we’d finished tying off.. as it turned out, had a story that I was not immediately prepared to believe.

At the end of our pier sat a bald eagle nest. Robert explained that he’d recently gotten too close to it and taken a hit from one of the parents. Required stitches, he said. I looked at him. Robert is bald as a cue ball. I saw no visible damage. I smiled, nodded, and filed it under fish stories.

The next morning I walked the pier and looked up at the nest. Three eaglets peered back down at me. Three. Those are serious parents. When I caught up with Robert later that morning, I looked a little closer. There was the scar. There were the stitch marks. Apparently in Kodiak, even the fish stories turn out to be true.

The other discovery at Saint Herman was our neighbors. Across the bay, roughly a mile out, a colony of Steller sea lions occupied a dock with what Robert described as 58 females and 2 dominant males. That math, as you might imagine, produces a significant number of frustrated bachelors. They had chosen our pier as their consolation prize, and they were not subtle about it.

                         The current “King of the Bachelors dock” Along with his wounds of battle

The game they play is called King of the Dock, and the rules are simple: spy hop, shove, and bellow until someone concedes a few inches of plank. The bellowing is something you have to hear to believe. It’s so low and so loud it sounds more mechanical than biological, like a diesel engine with a grudge. Eventually each animal finds his spot and the volume settles, but not before they’ve put on a full gladiatorial exhibition.

Dont know if they are Fighting or being overly friendly

Kodiak was also where we welcomed the newest member of the crew. Randy flew in from Kaneohe, Hawaii, a friend of Starr’s as well as Karen and I, and a sailor in his own right. He’s the kind of person whose credentials speak for themselves: ten years aboard Uhane Kai, a 48-foot Amel, sailing around the world for 10 years with his wife and young child.

                                                               Randy with a freshly baked pie!

With Randy aboard and the sea lions still carrying on at full volume, we launched the dinghy one morning for some sightseeing and fishing. A young bull clocked us from the water, turned, and swam a direct intercept course. For a moment the calculus was not in our favor. He closed the distance with the kind of confidence that comes from being several hundred pounds and completely unconcerned about consequences. Then, at the last second, he peeled off. A bluff. He’d made his point and returned to the dock to resume arguing with someone his own size.

– John Lattanzi

Kodiak was also a bittersweet stop. John and Karen, who had been aboard since we departed Japan, flew home to Hawaii from here. They had been with us for the whole North Pacific passage, through the Kurils, the Aleutians, and on into Alaska for atleast month then a month, and their presence had made the miles easier and the days more enjoyable. John’s writing has already found its way into these pages, and his eye for a good story will be missed at the table. We said our goodbyes on the dock at Saint Herman, which, as farewells go, isn’t a bad place for one. The eaglets were watching. The sea lions were bellowing. It felt like a proper send-off.

– Don Stabbert

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1082nm from Los Cabos, 09d 55.00 N, 122d 54.00 W – Friday, 23nd March, 2001 Mainland Coast of Mexico: Puerto Vallerta to Barra de Navidad – December 17, 2000-January 18, 2001 Seattle to Mexico – November, 2000 Seattle, Washington – September, 2000