Captain’s Log: Petropavlovsk Russia and leaving for Attu Alaska

June 2-6

Hi All,

In my last blog over my frustration with the Officials I forgot some of the stats. We now have completed Leg 4 of MAC, Kushiro Hokadate Japan to Petropavlovsk Russia…..Mystic Alaska Cruise!!!!

Distance for Leg 4: 933nm; 35nm circling 7.5 hours in front of Avacha Bay waiting permission to enter
Total Distance traveled since Kota Kinabalu: 4313nm
Distance going North: Petropavlovsk is ~53*N and KK 6*N…..so 47* of latitude or 2820 nm. We have ~8* more to go North, to 61*N, or about 480nm!!!

Did they have fun or what!!!! The Russian people are lovely and very welcoming!! Too bad our governments can’t seem to get along as we are finding the people very similar to Americans!!! Doing life in a very similar in a first world fashion…..work, school, families, taxes, good food, TV, clothes and some housing similar, although we saw a lot of not well maintained apartment buildings and some pretty bad roads in the countryside:))))

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky

The first day Sergei came and picked us up and showed us some of the sights of Petropavlovsk and the surrounding Kamchatka area….wow, is it beautiful….the Bay is surrounded with snow cap mountains…reminds us of Lake Tahoe!!! From there he took us to a fruit and vegetable market that had some of the best produce we have been around. There are no roads into Petropavlovsk so everything is shipped in by cargo ship or plane. Some produce is grown locally but not much, as the season is very short. Then we went to a local supermarket, where again, it had goods very similar to what we find in the USA…..excellent dairy, cheese, cream….excellent breads et al…..liquor….vodka and beer et al….meats, snacks et al…Kathy definitely stocked up and it was a delight to be able to read some things in English and then Sergei interpreted the Russian!!

After that, Sergei bought us a Sim card (foreigners are not allowed to purchase) so we could get internet on the boat….cost ~$10…..turned out it was very, very slow and we tried another carrier the next day and it was much better….cost $8….all with unlimited data for a month….wow!!! But by Wednesday (4 days) the good/fast MTS RUS sim card had locked up….we were told it was unlimited for the month by obviously not…..we tried the other Sim card and it was again too slow to download any decent weather forecasts…..ugh. So, back on Iridium GO to send emails to Alexei for help. Eventually Sergei put more rubles on the Sim card and by noon we were up and running….5GB for $19.

When we got back to the boat, a couple named Alexei and Jayna, Alex and Jane in English, we had met earlier in the day as they were starting a paddle board business here at the marina….Janya came by with a crab….wow…we weren’t quite sure what it was but eventually with Google help we discovered it was an Opilio crab…..snow crab…..very popular here as well as in the Bering Sea…..since it was Kathy’s birthday we decided to cook the crab…you just eat the legs as not much meat in the body….for an appetizer….we were going to cook steaks for her BD dinner….oh contraire mon ami, yes I know French but I don’t know the Russian:)))….when Jayna found out it was Kathy’s birthday she came back with 5 bigger crabs….from “Russia with Love” she said….and the feast was on….Sergei insisted on cooking the crab Russian style (basically boiled the crabs) and before we knew it we were all chowing down to a huge pot of crab…yummers!!!! Jayna came by later with her two younger kids….2 years and 7-months and Kathy got some kid luv…..Babushka time!!!! And then another young man came by…we thought he was a friend of Sergei but wasn’t…..bearing a gift of wild onions from his Babushka and he sat and visited for a while….he had seen our boat earlier and just wanted to meet us….he had traveled in Seattle/Vancouver with his wife for several years….by the time they all left it was close to 11pm….whoa!!!!

The next day Sergei took us and his 8 year old daughter to a hot springs to relax and and wash our cares away!! It was about an hour away and close to the local ski resorts. Unfortunately it was raining so we did not get to see any of the gorgeous landscape until we came back and the clouds were clearing somewhat. After the hot springs, Sergei,his wife, Natasa, and daughter, Slava, took us to a local seafood market where they bought all the fixings and salmon to cook us a delicious and traditional fish soup on Mystic. We had a great time, and toasted to World Peace, beginning with our two countries. There may have been vodka involved:)))

With the late daylight hours, sunrise 5am, sunset 10pm, about 19 hours of daylight, the Russians tend to eat late and stay up late!!! So, we didn’t get much rest for our first 3 days. We took the day off on Monday and did boat projects, got caught up on emails/banking et al, and then had Kathy’s steak BD dinner!!!! We were all in bed fairly early!!!

On the fifth day we continued to do a few boat projects and Sergei came by around 3pm. He then took us to get dinghy gasoline, the ATM for our fuel….we had been told we could use our Visa credit card but that turned out to mean to transfer money and not actually use it as a credit card…..so instead, we had to go to the ATM several times to get enough Rubles to pay for the 2800 liters of fuel…..$2483, 154,700 rubles, R55.4/liter or $3.36/gal including a truck delivery fee. Oh but wait….the last time we tried the ATM our card was denied…w/in the 24 hour time so we came back to Mystic to get some USD to exchange to rubles….by the time we got back to the ATM our 24 hours had elapsed and the card was good again..yea….but sort of a hassle!!!!

We then went clothes shopping for Kathy….several thermal underwear tops….then to a hardware store for some epoxy….more on that later…..then he asked if we wanted to see a black sand beach on the Pacific with great views….sure….hmmm….it was over an hour drive with the last 30 min over a very, very rough dirt road that typically is for 4-wheel drive trucks….ugh….but indeed the beach was lovely, views of snow capped mountains, and very, very black sand!!!

OK….how about some BBQ Russian style….sure, great….but again, it was another hour drive away from the City….but, with gorgeous views of snow capped mountains and golden grass fields/meadows…we sit down to eat at 8:15pm….excellent meal….grilled pork ribs, pork chops, turkey and pork skewers….no BBQ sauces as we know in USA, a bean/cheese salad and some excellent pretzel bread with salsa….oh, and a Russian lager style beer….most enjoyable meal!!! We then make it back to Mystic about 11pm…..a very fun day but ready for bed!!!

Boat Stuff:
ESI fuel polisher: great news, we found the bearings (yes, in Russia) and Mark showed me how to install on the motor….and it works…motor and pump running very smooth and quiet…..but, surprisingly, the racor filter is a little dirty….maybe not too surprising since we have gone almost 4300nm since Kota Kinabalu!! It is very good we have the fuel polisher back ensuring clean fuel as we head to the Bering Sea!! After we fueled the ESI is running -8.5psi with a new filter. So, it seems, with the new bearings the pump maybe running a little faster and thus the higher vacuum readings!!

Master Toilet: yep….the year of the head…ugh….but a simple solution this time….a clogged breather tube so a few screws, hose clamp, clean a small 1/2″ hose and good to go!!!

VHF Hailer: During our transit in the Panama Canal in January 2013, our VHF hailer broke off its plastic bracket….we had forgotten about it until we were in fog last week and tried to use it. There is a setting for the VHF hailer that you can set for fog and it will sound a horn every 2 minutes….a good thing to do in thick fog. So we got it out of storage and attempted to hook it back up…..but no joy, the hailer itself is broken….ugh!!!

Rub Rail: At the Hakodate wall in Japan a 2′ section of our lower rub rail was ripped/bent off….3 screws were ripped out and the SS rail itself bent down about 6″. We tried to repair but no joy. The winds were blowing too hard, and the dinghy was bouncing too much and we broke the drill bit trying to drill out the broken screws. Plus I discovered all our epoxy….2 big tubes….had been compromised and were hard. But, we were able to buy some more epoxy at a local hardware store and we will attempt to make repairs another, calmer day. We were able to get some 5200 into the screw holes so seawater can not penetrate the holes!!

Boat Wash: The water is very dirty back in this bay so using many filters on the watermaker but I used a little of our precious fresh water to wash down the decks….we were very, very dirty and tracking salt/dirt inside so good to get this cleaned!!

Storm Windows: Yep….the Admiral is quite nervous…it is the Bering Sea afterall….so it took many hours and Mark’s help but we got the windows installed. We won’t be able to open the Salon windows now but don’t think we were going to need to that for ventilation anyway!! And, maybe the storm windows will give the salon windows better insulation and the salon will not be as cold…we shall see!!!

Windshield wipers: new blades!!

THE PLAN: We are leaving Petropavlovsk for Attu Alaska today, Thursday, June 7….a few days ahead of schedule. It’s not a great window but probably the best one for another 1-2 weeks. Mostly head seas 3-5′, 10-20kt winds, but hoping the seas stay 30-50 points off bow and manageable…..most likely will have to slow down for about half the trip so should be into Attu sometime Sunday noonish to late afternoon!!!….that be Saturday Alaska time in the afternoon……wow, Mystic has not been back in the USA since 2012 in Florida….will be sort of weird/nice to be on the same side of the dateline!!!!

Hope all is well!!

John
Mystic Moon
Almost on passage to Attu Alaska

PS: Just a few pictures here as just ran out of time and internet for a while to get many posted!!