Aleutians

The passage from Kushiro to Attu, the westernmost point in the USA, is about 1350nm, which takes about six and a half days. Our previous passages were in the trade winds, where the weather is generally quite stable. This passage is most definitely not in the trades and has potential for challenging, variable weather. We watched the forecast for weeks. Once or twice each week, a low pressure system with seriously bad weather--winds in the 50 knot...

05 June, 2023 /

Four years ago, Sharry was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia. Still holding hands after 60 years She is now in mid-stage. That means she might not know where she, except she knows she is on Starr. She often won’t know what happened 10 minutes earlier.  She does funny and sometimes frustrating things, like taking other people’s stuff and hiding it in our stateroom. We know most of the usual places to look but sometimes it might be weeks...

26 May, 2023 /

It was late in the morning by the time we finished socializing with the couple off of the Nordhaven, so we skipped the hiking in Fox Farm and headed off toward our next anchorage. Some of our local knowledge experts had raved about the beauty of Bainbridge Passage, a six mile long channel into Prince William Sound between the continent and Bainbridge Island. This narrow cut is only a quarter mile wide in places and...

21 June, 2018 /

Yesterday afternoon we experienced some significant tidal flow as we passed through and by the channels between the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean. At one point we had more than four knots of current helping us along. We also had some tide that slowed us down but so far we are winning more than we are losing. Late in the day we crossed Unimac Strait, the eastern most shipping lane through the Aleutians. There was...

12 June, 2018 /

We tried all day yesterday to get Kyle and Sharry out on a plane, but the fog was so bad that all five flights into and out of Dutch Harbor got cancelled. We all spent the day in a holding pattern with multiple trips to the airport. Team Starr made the best of it though. Don cooked a great pot roast for dinner and we had movie night in Starr’s salon watching one of my...

11 June, 2018 /

On Friday many of the locals we encountered made a big deal about the weather. “We never have two good days in a row!”, most exclaimed. Yesterday the weather returned to normal; gusty winds, rain and fog. A good day for indoor activities. We had saved visiting museums and shopping for when the weather turned, so yesterday was the day.We spent a couple of hours in the Aleutian Museum before hitting the Aleutian War Museum....

10 June, 2018 /

The crew enjoyed a full uninterrupted night’s sleep for the first time in eleven days. After we got up, Clay cooked breakfast making us southern style cheesy grits, eggs, bacon, and toast.The pier we are tied to is as far from anything as you can get in Dutch Harbor, well beyond walking distance, so organizing ground transportation was our first priority. “Bong”, the Philippino fuel attendant who had helped us load diesel the night before,...

09 June, 2018 /

As we approached Unalaska Island yesterday the sea life around the boat increased significantly. We saw some kind of whale cutting the surface about a hundred yards away, but couldn’t tell what kind it was. A quick glance at our Alaska marine mammal reference indicated that there are more than a dozen Whale species that frequent these waters this time a year, and it could have been any of them. Some small dolphin jumped in...

08 June, 2018 /

This is Noodle’s daily blog.This morning’s dawn brought the best weather we’ve seen since leaving Hawaii. The wind is calm and the skies are clear. It looks like a beach day from inside Starr’s wheelhouse until you glance at the thermometer. 43 degrees is a bit cold for a beach day.We are seeing lots of bird life now. Flocks of puffins take flight as Starr’s passage disturbs them. These stumpy parrot like birds work their...

07 June, 2018 /

We are 291nm and 36 hours from Dutch. The wind has backed down to around 15kn from the WNW. I am an optimist so I’d like to think that the worst is behind us. Let’s do a brief review of what has broken or gone wrong.1st. There was this itsy bitsy 24vdc hot water heating fan that quit running and put out a lot of smoke. There were no visible signs of any burnt parts....

06 June, 2018 /