Libertaire Sailing

2023-10-28 Blog

Dutch Harbor, iles AlDutch Harbor, Aleutian Islands - Alaskaeader>

Dutch Harbor, iles AlDutch Harbor, Aleutian Islands - Alaska

Libertaire avale les Libertaire covers the 580 miles between Sitka and Kodiak in 4 days and drops anchor in front of the fishing port of the island's namesake town on May 1st. We stay there for a little over a week, as weather conditions are not favorable to continue west. Despite mostly rainy, windy, and cold weather for May, we enjoy our stopover thanks to the hospitality of its 6,000 inhabitants and the friendly encounters we have. Mike and Alysa, marine biologists at the town's research center, sailed the same regions as us a few years ago with their children on their sailboat Galactic, and we happily reminisce about some stopovers. Martine and Joël, a French couple who have lived in Kodiak for 20 years where they ran a bakery, prepare delicious cakes for us; Sylvie and Manu, who are traveling in an RV, offer us a car ride to White Sand Beach and Fort Abercrombie... We find a bit of blue sky at sea as we head to Eagle Harbour in the Shumagin Islands, 380 miles west, then the small village of Sand Point. We take advantage of a rare sunny day to anchor in Baranof Bay, where we visit an old fish cannery and enjoy the beautiful hike overlooking it. There are normally no bears on the island, but we quickly spot suspicious footprints... A grizzly indeed swam across the 8km passage separating us from the Alaskan peninsula. So we keep our bear spray within reach!

Ensuite, après 36 heuThen, after 36 hours of downwind sailing, we reach the islands of Akun and Akutan, where the good weather and lengthening days allow us to fully enjoy our new playground, these first islands of the Aleutians.

Nous sommes depuis ceWe have been in Dutch Harbor since noon today, a major and welcoming fishing port where the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea meet. The Aleutians are ours!v>