Captain’s Log: Attu to Kiska, Aleutians Alaska

June 13-14

Hi All,

We left Attu at 0800 on Wednesday June 13 as planned. But…we did drag up about 20 pounds of kelp on the anchor….the bow now looks like a drying kelp field…ugh!!! We arrived safe and sound to a very cute anchorage on Kiska Island…..Gertrude Cove….I wonder who she was????

The passage was easy compared to the one out of Petropavlovsk….yea!!!! We had 10-15kt winds NE-NNE so on the port beam, COG=110M….it was calmer at the beginning but kicked up to 15-20kts overnight. Seas stayed in the 1-2′ wind chop and a small long period 2-4′ swell on the nose that was no bother at all. When the winds picked up last night we had 3-4′ wind chop on the beam creating some motion on Mystic….certainly made sleeping a challenge from the motion as well as the noise of the waves slapping on the port hull!!!

We even slowed down a bit…from 1600 to 1500 rpm so we could time our entry into Gertrude Cove right after sunrise!!! That helped save some fuel too!!!

We did see one pod of Orcas….maybe ~8 and a pair of Humpbacks….sweet!!!

When we were about 4nm from the anchorage sv Spruce popped up on AIS…..they were just leaving to do an overnighter to Kanaga Island…..we knew they would be leaving but it was sad to miss them once again….we had trawler weather yesterday and they left today hoping for more wind. But as Andy said, the weather is sure not cooperating for us trying to go East….Amen to that brother!!!!

The Plan: Looks like this easterly wind pattern is maybe changing…yea and good riddens. This pesky LO that has been creating all our problematic Easterly winds is today heading north into the Bering Sea and a HI is coming behind and south bringing Westerlies….ODG….can it be so!!! We will be here 3-4 nights, leaving Sunday or Monday to Adak/Sweepers Cove with maybe a stop in the Bay of Islands (west Adak) if we have enough fuel, which after yesterday’s run we do!!!

First thing I did….well, after the celebratory Bloody Mary….was drop a line and bam…..before I even got the reel in gear I caught a nice 1.5 pound Sculpin….beautiful!!!! Then proceeded to use it as bait for the crab trap…..fingers crossed for dungeness crab tonight!!!

Boat Stuff:
Dinghy Chalks: Looks like our temporary repair on the port dinghy chalk held…yea!!!! Even though we gave the epoxy 48 hours to cure it was still somewhat soft when we set the screws….hope it will harden up after about 7 days!!

Main Shaft PSS: Looks like it has started a slight leak….ugh….will need to tighten the bellows!!!

Final Stats:
Position: Gertrude Cove on Kiska Island: 51 56N 177 27.3E; not quite to 180* yet!!
Distance traveled: 175nm, arrived 8am on 6/14 AKDT
Speed: avg 7.3kts; 1500-1600rpm; varied from 6.4-8.2kts
Boat sightings: 6, all cargo ships on the great circle route going to Japan, Korea or China!
Hit something: Nothing
Boat Slammings: ZERO
Wildlife: many birds including many Albatross, the cute Puffins, 2 Humpback whales plus one pod of ~8 Orcas!!!!
Whale Count since Japan: Total 11; 5 Humpbacks, 11 Orcas
Fishing: Nope; too, too cold
Sail: down
Fuel burn: 1.5nmpg for passage, much, much better!!! Normal for 1600rpm is 1.35nmpg. Projected fuel amount when reach Adak is 251 gal so still a good safety margin!!!

Hope all is well!

1. John
   Mystic Moon
   GO MYSTIC GO