Captain’s Log: Made it to Dutch Harbor Alaska

June 28

Hi All,

YES, YES, YES…..we did it….the little trawler that can!!!! Mystic did fantastic…..what a seaworthy trawler she is!!! The run from Mailboat Cove was 69nm in trawler conditions….we left at 0600 and arrived around 2pm….8 hours….8.6kts avg….we had the current with us most of the time and at one time we were doing >10kts….GO MYSTIC GO!!!

Whales: another great day….all fairly close to Dutch Harbor…as in the welcoming committee….3 Orca, 6 humpbacks complete with great tails showing as they dive deep and 2 unknowns!!

As we rounded Eider Point on Unalaska we hailed the Dutch Harbor Harbormaster…..a very nice man answered and welcomed us to Alaska and Dutch Harbor and directed us to the Small Boat Harbor on the north side of the bridge…..there is a bridge that splits the bay and you need to know which side of Amaknak Island to go on. We were very pleased to be in the SBH as it is much closer to all the stores we need and it turned out to be a very new/modern long pontoon with water and power….wow, very unexpected…..Mystic’s batteries are soaking up the juice and loving being at full capacity…..if you recall we are down 2 batteries so good to be plugged in and take a break from managing the power!!!

Checking in was easy peasy…the Customs Border Patrol man was here waiting, took about 10 minutes going through our documents, took pictures of most, and said welcome back to USA…WOW…..after all the issues in Japan and Russia we were stunned…..that’s it…really, yes really…..all the boats here were so stunned….like, where are the 10 other officials we are used to having onboard!!!!

There are now 4 cruising boats here from Japan, all coming in within about 5 hours of each other…..wow, what a coincidence. Dione, an Australian boat, was already here, left out of the Osaka Japan area and we had met them in Adak. They did a 3-day passage from Adak…it took us a week having stopped in 3 other islands. Spruce came in about 2 hours later and the pontoon was getting full so they rafted Spruce to Mystic….well, hello again!! Then Kiwi Coyote came in….18 days on the water having left out of the Osaka Japan area….3100nm, 10 days into the wind, suffered some keel ballast damage and prop issues….ugh!!!!

We certainly celebrated another great milestone….seemed somewhat surreal and as we listened to all the weather related issues from these 4 boats we just kept pinching ourselves we did it…wow-o-wow…yep, champagne, beer, wine, rum and a cheeseburger in paradise with an Alaskan Amber draw at the local grill…yummers….we actually made it to 11pm and then it was lights out for John-boy!!!!

The Plan: We will take about a week and hopefully rest a bit, do a lot of cleaning, change oil and a few other boat projects, plan our next leg along the Alaskan peninsula to Kodiak, provision at the local Safeway…wow, a real American grocery store….with Jimmy Dean and ice cream….ODG, heaven:))) They have a really good July 4th celebration with fireworks on the 3rd (like at midnight – 1am….when it’s dark….hope we make it:))) and a family style parade on the 4th with a hot dog eating contest….no, I’m not entering, although thought about it:)))

Final Stats Leg 5 of MAC: Petropavlovsk Russia to Dutch Harbor Alaska
Distance traveled: 1,409nm; left on June 7; 21 days ago
Distance since left Kushiro Japan with Mark: 2,341nm, left May 27; 32 days ago
Distance since left Kota Kinabalu: 5,722nm, left Jan 16; 163 days ago
Overnights:
Since KK: 20
Since Japan: 11
Total Fuel since KK: 4,993 gallons; $3.34/gal avg price
Total whale count: Total 58; 15 Humpbacks, 31 Orcas; 3 Sperms, 2 Blue, 4 Fin, 3 Unknown

Boat Stuff:
Flybridge 110volt outlet….holy smoke Batman….as I turned on the GEN on our last night in Hot Springs Cove and turned on all the breakers, the “ER/Flybridge electrical outlet breaker” kept tripping…..we found the outlet on the FB smoking….yikes. Fortunately we had another spare and it took Mark a good hour to splice in some new wire and get it all fitted…thanks bud!!! All those headseas coming out of Russia is probably the root cause…a lot o water comes off the FB console onto this outlet which is protected by an outdoor, waterproof cover….but, obviously, after 14 years not entirely watertight. We just wonder what else is going to show up in the next few months!!

Hope all is well!!

John
Mystic Moon
REST MYSTIC REST!!

40-lb Halibut……FUN!!!!

Mt Sitkin….6,000′

Caribou on Bechiven

Downed B-24 bomber on Bechiven

Cross red and arctic fox

View at Hot Springs Cove, Unmak

Kathy with the sheep-dog Lannie and Art in the background

Mystic and Spruce in Mailboat Cove, Unalaska

Looking at Unmak island and the volcano

Dutch Harbor!!!

—