For a month we have been coasting along the Kenai Peninsula and then Prince William Sound, a vast fjord north of the Gulf of Alaska where many glaciers meet the sea. After the very charming village of Seldovia with its well-restored old stilt houses, we discovered the more touristy town of Seward and then Prince William Sound, which offers beautiful, well-protected anchorages. Grizzlies have given way to black bears, raspberries to blueberries, and coniferous forests carpet the mountainsides. The riverbanks are strewn with salmon carcasses that, after their final effort to swim upstream and spawn, wash ashore, fertilizing the soil with their rich flesh. The days are starting to shorten, we relight the stove for dinner, and already the autumn colors are appearing—it's time for Libertaire to find a winter port!
The initial plan was to stop in Cordova, but the winter port renovations limit available space, so we must look elsewhere—Valdez, Seward, Seldovia?
