We?re anchored outside the Port Townsend Boat Haven, giving us access to Katelinn while she?s there aboard the schooner Adventuress.

Second Wind is back in Washington after her six year adventure! Katelinn welcomed us to the dock at Port Townsend. We?ll be here a few days, after that TBD. By early October we will complete the journey by returning to our home port of Anacortes.

We?re anchored at Marble Cove in Barkley Sound, 280 miles from our previous anchorage. 36 hours of predicted wind turned out to be just 12 so we ended up using more fuel than we planned, but we?re still glad we chose this route. We wanted to be on the wild side, and Barkley Sound has many special memories for our family. We?ll rest here tomorrow then probably head to Washington without another stop.

Since we're sailors we opted for sailing, and went down the west coast of Vancouver Island. We had a great overnight run last night; it felt wonderful to be back in some wind and swells. Unfortunately, the predicted N20k for today did not materialize, so the giddiness was shortlived. We're now motoring again! On the bright side, we found summer. We haven't been this warm, or seen a big blue sky or stars at night, since late May.

We're anchored at Fury Cove, the last stop before heading across Queen Charlotte Sound and down Vancouver Island. The weather forecast keeps changing so we still haven't decided whether we're going down the inside or outside. We're not keen on all the motoring in inner channels so would prefer to sail down the west coast of the island, even though it's a lot more miles. That said, right now there are gale force winds predicted for that area, which isn't appealing either. We'll decide by tomorrow afternoon.

No rain again today; with good visibility, we opted for some shortcuts through Reid and Gunboat Passages. Since we're just motoring, it was more enjoyable to maneuver through those narrow channels than to just drive along water highways. We're anchored in Codville Lagoon, which feels like a large lake once inside the entrance.

I turned 65 today and got the best birthday present possible: sunshine! The day began with heavy fog, which made it difficult to maneuver around the many large logs in the channels; but by midafternoon the sky was clearing. We're anchored in tiny Oliver Cove, a lovely place with rocky islets that we can actually finally see.

The planet has all the way around the sun 6 times since we left Washington on this date in 2014. It's been quite a journey.

I haven't been able to get an SSB connection for several days and of course we are far from internet range, so eventually several of these posts will upload at once. It feels odd to have no communication with the outside world (except for VHF radio; at least we can still get marine weather broadcasts) and have almost every anchorage to ourselves, as if we are alone on the planet. Fog and rain obscure the scenery, but this morning we got to see our first Dall porpoises in years. Welcome home! We're anchored at Bottleneck Inlet, a cozy little spot on Finlayson Channel.

No fog today, and very little precipitation. Because of all the rain in the last month, waterfalls that are usually dry this time of year were gorgeous. We were grateful for today's good visibility, because Fraser Reach was gushing everywhere! We're anchored at Khutze Inlet, near a spectacular cascade and a seal colony.

Despite fog, rain, headwinds, adverse currents, and a mess of large logs in the water thrown in for good measure, we pushed on as far as Coghlan Anchorage. It's exposed to the south winds but since the next viable anchorage is 40 miles away, here we are.

We had 20k headwinds in Arthur Passage and Grenville Channel, so we had another very slow day (3.5k average speed) and once again did not get close to our intended anchorage. Ordinarily that wouldn't matter, but since the customs officer threatened us with 3 years imprisonment and up to a million dollar fine if we didn't do exactly as he said, it actually does matter that we're not making enough distance. We don't expect to end up in a Canadian jail, but we don't want to tangle with the authorities, either.

Wind and sea conditions below are in the East Inlet anchorage. It's too foggy to see much but we did get to hear the haunting call of a loon.

It was unfortunate our limited number of days allowed in Canada forced us to press on today, as conditions south of Prince Rupert were even stronger than forecast. We bashed into 25k headwinds and 2-3 foot waves for hours, averaging just 3k of speed. We?d gone just a little over half our planned distance for today when we decided we couldn?t make it to that anchorage before dark. We?re now anchored in Lawson Harbor, hoping for better conditions tomorrow.

We checked in to Customs at Prince Rupert late this afternoon.

Reception was as chilly as expected. We would love to wait out tomorrow?s wind and rain in this nice little anchorage, but we have a limited number of days before we have to exit Canada, so we?ll keep moving.

Conditions below are inside Prince Rupert Harbor. Dixon Entrance, the day after strong winds, had W18k wind and W 3m waves.

We're anchored in Foggy Bay, a cozy little spot that should be protected from the strong winds forecast for tonight and tomorrow. It's our very last anchorage in Alaska! Art made the most of his fishing license by bringing in some rockfish and setting out the crab trap one more time.

It didn?t rain today! We?re anchored in Crab Bay on the east side of Annette Island. Ironically, we can?t drop our crab pot here since we already caught our daily limit this morning before weighing anchor. We took advantage of the rain break to swap foresails for the trip south.

Forecasts are indicating Saturday would be the best day to cross Dixon Entrance into Canada, so we are gradually working our way toward that transit. With 26 consecutive days of rain, we?re not too sorry to be heading south. Maybe there?s a summer down there somewhere!

We left Ketchikan and stopped in Metlakatla, a Tsimshian village that is the only Indian Reserve in Alaska. We got permission in advance to visit, but even so were impressed with the friendly reception we received.

Finally got to Ketchikan! Caught a rare northerly and actually got to sail for a while. We have several projects that need attention so we plan to be here at least a few days.

Happy Anniversary to us! (Can it really have been 46 years?!) Vixen Inlet did indeed have plentiful crab, and now we've moved on to Meyers Chuck. It's a tiny fishing village (so tiny it doesn't even have internet; didn't think that happened anywhere anymore); just a few homes and small boats, and Cassie (who distributes the mail once a week and bakes cinnamon rolls).

We are ready to head south down Clarence Strait to Ketchikan, but since that trip is upwind we still need to wait for a better weather window. In the meantime, we have moved to Vixen Inlet. It's very calm here, and as always, we are alone in the anchorage. The previous location used to have good crabbing but now it's full of jellyfish and we caught no crab; we're hoping for better luck here.

Strong winds are expected to arrive again tomorrow evening so we moved to Santa Anna Inlet, reputedly very protected. We expect we'll be holed up here for 3 or 4 days. We took advantage of the time before the rain starts again and scrambled through the thick forest to a nearby lake, along the way gathering a lot of wild blueberries. Crab for dinner, blueberry pancakes for breakfast!

The Anan Bay Bear Observatory was one of the best experiences we've had anywhere! We spent hours watching brown and black bears catch and eat salmon that were trying to jump a waterfall; at one point a mother and cub decided to have their meal just a meter from the observation deck. Now we're anchored at Frosty Bay, an extremely quiet cove.

The strong winds dissipated so we continued south in Eastern Passage and are anchored in Anan Bay, actually just an indentation. Tomorrow we will hike to the Anan Bay Bear Observatory; only 24 visitor permits are issued per day, but this year getting 2 of them was not a problem.

After a fascinating morning exploring the rock carvings at Petroglyph Beach, we left Wrangell and followed the tidal current south in Eastern Passage. We're anchored in a small bay half way down the western side, out of the current and hopefully out of the gale force winds predicted for the larger straits. We'll hunker down here for a day or so.

We are docked at Wrangell, now a fishing town but originally a Tlingit community. We?ve already enjoyed the many totem poles and tomorrow will hike to a beach known for its ancient petroglyphs.

Weather kept us in Petersburg longer than planned, but today we took a flood tide down Wrangell Narrows and are anchored near the south entrance. The Narrows are 21 miles long and have 65 channel markers for the twists and turns, which made for an interesting few hours.

Yesterday a sunny Shanghai-La, today blue icebergs as big as houses near Le Conte Glacier, tonight docked amongst the fishing fleet at Petersburg. No boredom on this boat! We?ll be in Petersburg for a few days, locating a replacement part for our chartplotter sonar and attending to miscellaneous chores.

Another day's drive (with so little wind, trawlers make more sense here than sailboats) brought us to Thomas Bay. The bay's glacier receded ages ago, so the main draw is Scenery Cove. It's a narrow steep canyon with a meadow and stream at the head, beneath a ring of mountains; it looked so perfect it hardly seemed real. And the water was a most unusual emerald green, adding to the surreal quality. Once again we are the only boat in the anchorage, though the plethora of crab traps in the bay means there must be people somewhere (possibly coming over from Petersburg?).

There were several bays within Tebenkof Bay, each of which had numerous islets and coves. We enjoyed watching black bears on shore every day, as well as a large number of otters: fun to see, but they decimate the crab population. (No crab cakes for us after all.) Tonight we are in Portage Bay, a placid and sheltered anchorage in Frederick Sound. We've had sunshine for 2 days in a row and are revelling in it!

Today brought some wind, and we tacked our way down to Tebenkof Bay Wilderness Area where we are anchored at the end of Thetis Bay. Fishing is reportedly good here, so we plan to explore some nooks and crannies in the area for the next few days while trying to replenish our fresh seafood supply.

Art jury-rigged a repair for the windlass yesterday, then the sun made a brief appearance so we had an enjoyable walk to the nearby lake and natural hot springs. This morning we had a lovely soak in the bath house, then drove (very little wind, as usual) to nearby Red Bluff Bay. It's in a gorgeous setting, almost completely enclosed and surrounded by tall mountains, with a large waterfall on one side.

Into every life some rain must fall. Figuratively, we've been repair-free for quite some time, but yesterday the chartplotter's sonar stopped working (fortunately we have a backup depth meter), and this morning a piece broke off the windlass so it will let the chain down but not bring it up correctly. Literally, it's raining, so we're anchored at Warm Springs Bay but are not keen on hiking to the waterfall and lake. Putting two and two together makes today a fix-it day.

A humpback whale sounded near our boat in Chatham Strait, we're anchored in a tiny gem of an anchorage (Ell Cove), and we had fresh crab cakes for dinner. All is definitely well aboard!

Our primary route is now southerly, and already it's warmer. We're anchored at Corner Bay in Tenakee Inlet, where we've been enjoying watching a mama bear with her cub, and later an unusual bear that was brown but with white ears! Our crab trap was filled this morning so we had a delicious crab feast for dinner.

After many marvelous experiences in Glacier Bay, it was time to start heading south. We are docked at Hoonah, the oldest Tlingit community in Alaska (settled when glaciers overran their previous home in what is now Glacier Bay). More than a convenient fuel stop, it?s a small and charming little town.

We are anchored in Bartlett Cove, our last night in Glacier Bay. A grand finale experience was having a humpback whale do barrel rolls and fiercely slap its flukes on the water, just yards from our boat while we were anchored at Willoughby Island waiting for a favorable current. Wow!

We drove to the end of John Muir Inlet today, flanked by intriguing and increasingly more stark cliff faces. All the glaciers in that inlet have receded dramatically, but we managed to snag a bit of glacier ice and made a ceremonial G&T at the highest latitude we will ever be in our journeys (59 05.310N). A whale was feeding in North Sandy Cove when we arrived to anchor for the night. Tomorrow we'll return to John Hopkins Inlet to get one last look at the glaciers that still reach the sea.

SSB connections have been erratic so these posts may be out of order, but that doesn't matter. Yesterday was rainy and we only went as far as Sebree Cove, but today was more clear and we drove to the end of Wachusett Inlet. It's a narrow fiord with milky jade water, flanked by steep snowy peaks, numerous cascades, and thick forest; we soaked in the majestic beauty for hours. Now we're at Goose Cove, the farthest north we will ever anchor. There are bergy bits around us and the water temp reads 41F, but the sun feels warm and we enjoyed seeing another bear on shore.

The glacier at the end of Tarr Inlet was active, and we got to see huge slabs of ice break off. The sounds were as powerful as the sights: ice cracking sounded like rifle shots, and chunks hitting the water sounded like cannon booms (and created waves that rocked the boat). How dramatic, to witness the earth changing right before our eyes! Now we're anchored at the end of narrow Tidal Inlet (which we dubbed Waterfall Alley), watching a bear graze near the shore.

Every day has been an adventure! Yesterday we drove into John Hopkins Inlet, past glaciers and through bergy bits. Anchored at Reid Inlet, today we walked around (and briefly on) Reid Glacier. Tomorrow we'll drive up Tarr Inlet (no sailing wind here) to see the glaciers at the end of that long arm.

Every day has been an adventure! Yesterday we drove into John Hopkins Inlet, past glaciers and through bergy bits. Anchored at Reid Inlet, today we walked around (and briefly on) Reid Glacier. Tomorrow we'll drive up Tarr Inlet (no sailing wind here) to see the glaciers at the end of that long arm.

We entered Glacier Bay yesterday, anchoring at South Fingers Cove last night and Blue Mouse Cove today. So far the mountains have been mostly shrouded in clouds, but even glimpses through the mists have been captivating. Otters abound, and porpoises and whales have been feeding in the cove. We are the only vessel in this area, and it feels magical!

Anchored at Inian Cove on Inian Island. Given the prevailing wind direction we were surprised to be getting wind inside the cove; the hills are funneling gusts. That plus no sun means it feels cold, but it sure is beautiful! We've also been treated to the sight of many otters and sea lions.

Sitka and a side trip by plane to Denali were terrific; now we're headed north to Glacier Bay. Rather than taking the inside route motoring through narrows, we chose the ocean side and rode a southerly wind up the Gulf before tucking into picturesque Elfin Cove. Built on the steep rocky sides of a small cove, this charming little community uses boardwalks and boats to get between dwellings.

We?ll be in Sitka for at least another 10 days, getting a marine survey completed and taking a short side trip to Denali National Park. I?ll resume position reports once we start to move again.

Arrived in Sitka! Overall a good 23 day passage. It?s cool and damp (summer here feels like winter in the San Juans), but the eagles and rocky islets feel just right.

After a lull in the wee hours this morning, a favorable wind shift is allowing us to sail the final miles directly to Sitka. Since it is light so late, if it weren't for the cloud cover we might even be able to see land today! We've been sighted ourselves; we were buzzed by a plane this morning.

Fortunately when the low reached us last night, we did indeed only catch the upper edge of it (sometimes strategies actually work). Winds in the mid 20's for about 12 hours, with comparable seas, were quite manageable. Conditions steadily improved since morning. If the wind angle was more favorable we could make landfall tomorrow, but the wind has shifted to the NE, exactly where we need to head. Even with some long tacks, we're encouraged to think we can arrive by Tuesday.

The breeze picked up this morning and the sea was relatively calm, so we had a great sailing day. The clouds even parted for a while this morning and we had our first glimpse of the sky in 2 weeks. Didn't last long, but it sure was nice!

There are times to be content with sailing slowly, but this is not one of them. Another deep low is approaching so we are motorsailing, hoping when it arrives we'll be near the outside of its NE quadrant rather than taking a direct hit. An added advantage is that the engine heat is warming up the cabin; what a relief! We were delighted to pass by some floating bull kelp. It didn't just mean we are getting closer to land, it looked like home.

Yesterday's dramatic barometer increase did indeed foretell an improvement in the weather. Today's winds and seas are much more favorable; all three sails are flying and we're enjoying a fine sail. With no waves running into the cockpit and a thin enough cloud cover for some solar to finally get through, we were able to spend some nice time outside for a change.

Yesterday's dramatic barometer increase did indeed foretell an improvement in the weather. Today's winds and seas are much more favorable; all three sails are flying and we're enjoying a fine sail. With no waves running into the cockpit and a thin enough cloud cover for some solar to finally get through, we were able to spend some nice time outside for a change.

"Same song, third verse; a little bit colder and a little bit worse." The galley window sprang a leak yesterday and was letting in a pint of water every time we got hit by a large wave, which was very often. When we slowed down, Art was able to go out and caulk it heavily; it's ugly but so far is keeping water outside. So we're back up to speed, which means waves are constantly smashing into the boat but we are making good progress.

Similar conditions to yesterday, but we decided we needed to head more upwind so we wouldn't get too far east too soon. By mid afternoon when wind and seas increased that made for very aggressive sailing, so we rolled in the inner foresail and are sailing on 3rd reefed main alone. Now we're only making about 3k but at least we are maintaining course and not bashing nearly as much. Our cabin heater stopped working. Since the problem is apparently in the control unit, it's not something we can fix until we get to Alaska. We're cold all the time now, which is going to make the last part of this passage much more uncomfortable.

Having a rough ride. We need to be heading more north but any further upwind would be brutal. It would be more comfortable to fall off the wind more, but if we head that direction we'll have to crawl back north eventually, so we might as well do it now. The not so happy medium is taking wind off the aft quarter, with lots of rolling and waves crashing into and over the boat.(Much too loud to sleep!) The good news is our Hydrovane is steering the boat better than we could, so we just huddle under blankets in the cabin and pop our heads out regularly for safety checks.

By heaving to rather than run with the system, we were in more favorable wind within 6 hours; the price paid of fewer miles toward our destination was worth it. We've been traveling nicely today (though the gribs show a deeper low right on the heels of this one; oh joy). It's Day 9 of cloud cover, but the rain stopped so we enjoyed being in the cockpit again. A milestone: 1000 miles to go!

We're in the midst of a low that a previous forecast showed passing over by this evening. Unfortunately we're having trouble with SSB transmission and haven't been able to receive a current forecast, so once the winds got over 35k (10k more than predicted), we decided to heave to for a few hours. Ideally drifting this direction will get us out of the worst of it sooner.

This report is from Saturday 6 June USA (in case post gets delayed).

The wind behaved as predicted so we are indeed still upwind but on a better course (and not even bashing much). It's gotten quite cold already for us tropical wimps, so the thought of another 1000 miles north makes us shudder! We've added layers of clothes and blankets, and turned the heater on for a bit this morning. This is Day 7 of cloud cover (good thing we're not navigating by sextant), but even without sunshine the enclosed cockpit is a reasonably good solarium during the day. We've passed the half-way point and will have a celebratory meal tonight.

Addendum: This report is from Friday 5 June USA. We're having trouble with SSB transmission so it may not have been posted.

The wind behaved as predicted so we are indeed still upwind but on a better course (and not even bashing much). It's gotten quite cold already for us tropical wimps, so the thought of another 1000 miles north makes us shudder! We've added layers of clothes and blankets, and turned the heater on for a bit this morning. This is Day 7 of cloud cover (good thing we're not navigating by sextant), but even without sunshine the enclosed cockpit is a reasonably good solarium during the day. We've passed the half-way point and will have a celebratory meal tonight.

The wind behaved as predicted so we are indeed still upwind but on a better course (and not even bashing much). It's gotten quite cold already for us tropical wimps, so the thought of another 1000 miles north makes us shudder! We've added layers of clothes and blankets, and turned the heater on for a bit this morning. This is Day 7 of cloud cover (good thing we're not navigating by sextant), but even without sunshine the enclosed cockpit is a reasonably good solarium during the day. We've passed the half-way point and will have a celebratory meal tonight.

The wind behaved as predicted so we are indeed still upwind but on a better course (and not even bashing much). It's gotten quite cold already for us tropical wimps, so the thought of another 1000 miles north makes us shudder! We've added layers of clothes and blankets, and turned the heater on for a bit this morning. This is Day 7 of cloud cover (good thing we're not navigating by sextant), but even without sunshine the enclosed cockpit is a reasonably good solarium during the day. We've passed the half-way point and will have a celebratory meal tonight.

The wind behaved as predicted so we are indeed still upwind but on a better course (and not even bashing much). It's gotten quite cold already for us tropical wimps, so the thought of another 1000 miles north makes us shudder! We've added layers of clothes and blankets, and turned the heater on for a bit this morning. This is Day 7 of cloud cover (good thing we're not navigating by sextant), but even without sunshine the enclosed cockpit is a reasonably good solarium during the day. We've passed the half-way point and will have a celebratory meal tonight.

We finally got into some wind, though distance made good to our destination has not improved because we're bashing upwind and off our desired course. However, it's not worse than we expected, and the wind is predicted to clock tonight and tomorrow. IF it does, we'll still be bashing but we'll be on a much more favorable course. We've been visited by dolphins twice, once with a spectacular show of leaping and playing!

In spite of the light wind we've been able to keep sailing at an acceptable pace. That said, being off course and having to jibe downwind the last couple of days means our distance made good has been disappointing. Gribs are forecasting a wind shift and increase tomorrow, so we're staying optimistic as we float along in light fog...

The previous wind shift took us off our desired course, but at least we can still have the sails up. And another plus: we came across a glass ball! An incredible stroke of luck, and in the calm air we were able to snag it easily. No fish on our trolling line, but we caught a treasure.

Sailing very slowly can be called ghosting, but last night we were truly a ghost ship: creeping along silently in fog. We are far enough north to need jackets and sweats on night watch, but not far enough to be past the large area of high pressure (= light wind). Probably the best way to look at it is that every day we're not getting slammed is a good day.

Update to the noon position: wind turned lighter and more southerly. We did a gentle jibe and are now sailing at 2.5k on a course of 40T.

So far this has been a surprisingly slow trip. Wind got over 20k yesterday, but today we are back in light airs that are forecast to be in our area for at least a few days. At least we are able to glide across the sea over long low swells, so we can't complain.

A good day. We have plenty of wind and are now a fourth of the distance toward our destination.

Fuel is a concern on a passage of this distance, but when the wind died last night we decided to motor. We needed the engine on to run the watermaker (=refill the empty tank), plus there was good wind predicted to the north and we didn't want to miss it. Mission accomplished: tank is nearly full and we've caught an ideal west wind, moving well in exactly the direction we want to go.

In the Excitement Of The Day Contest, 2nd runner up goes to the freighter that came within a mile of us (sure were glad we had the AIS). 1st runner up was watching a green glow (not quite a green flash) on the horizon at sunrise. The winner: realizing a faulty valve in the watermaker had caused the contents of our port water tank to empty into the sea! Fortunately Art found a workaround so we can gradually refill it.

When our speed dropped below 2k last night and we couldn't keep the sails from slatting, we ended up having to motor. Thankfully the wind picked up this morning and we are having another lovely sail under trade wind skies. The stars overhead and the bioluminescence in the surrounding water have been gorgeous at night, and today we were visited by a very large seabird that we suspect was a northern albatross.

At twilight yesterday 4 boobies played with the wind around our sails until dark, then 2 of them rode on the bow pulpit until dawn. We had a good run overnight, but the wind died today and we are ghosting in the pacific Pacific.

A lovely start to our passage! We were delighted to see the Southern Cross just above the horizon last night, a final farewell to the tropics. Now we're moving along nicely in a light breeze.

We left Honolulu, planning to anchor on the west side of Oahu for a few days then head north to Alaska but have had to backtrack. Our AIS stopped receiving/transmitting our GPS information, which we felt was a dealbreaker for an offshore passage. Now we're on a mooring buoy in Keehi Lagoon, waiting for replacement parts to arrive.

We are back at Ala Wai in Honolulu, picking up & installing autopilot parts and doing final provisioning for our passage to Alaska. We're still planning on departing towards the end of May.

A pleasant overnight sail (interrupted by a 30k thunderstorm at 0500) brought us to Kaneohe Bay on Oahu. It's a very protected location and we're enjoying not rolling in the anchorage. Working on projects will be easier here (currently protecting & insulating heat ducts, and varnishing), and we plan to stay at least a week.

We made overnight stops at Big Beach (near Molokini) and east of Lahaina; both of those anchorages were only viable due to very benign conditions. Now we're at Honolua Bay, a pretty spot with lots of surfers riding large waves at the nearby point. The waves are a bit uncomfortable in the bay but the wind is predicted to shift soon, and we plan to stay here for at least a few days.

After a nice sail to Maui that included spotting some whale spouts, we are anchored at La Perouse Bay. We'd prefer an anchorage that's smaller and less exposed, but there aren't many options in this area. So far we're the only sailboat out and about (so keeping the recommended social distance from other people is absolutely no problem!).

Since Hawaii state marinas limit transient stays and it's too early to leave for Alaska, we left Honolulu to do some anchoring around the neighboring islands. We've been on the SW coast of Lanai for a few days, enjoying complete solitude in a rocky cove and a chance to continue working on projects at a more relaxed rate. (Due to coronavirus restrictions, Waikiki is now a ghost town. At least cruisers have experience being isolated for long periods of time in limited space!)