Well, we made it through the Bering Sea and have rounded the corner into the Gulf of Alaska. There is a gale warning for today and tomorrow so we are holed up in King Cove which is a little fishing town with an excellent harbor. The weather should calm down on Monday and we can make the 400+mile jaunt to Kodiak followed by the 500-mile trip to Glacier Bay and waters Cathy and I have sailed before.

As we have officially completed the Northwest Passage, here is a picture of our route map.

We're about to round the corner and leave the Bering Sea for the Gulf of Alaska-. We sped through Nome, stopping only for a celebratory meal and to refuel. We celebrated the successful completion of the NorthWest Passage, PLUS it was Cathy's birthday, PLUS we were saying farewell to two of our crewmembers, Brian and Vlado. We wish them well and safe travels on their way back to Australia and Slovakia respectively.

Nome is an active goldmining town and the few docks are filled with minidiving vessels. About 50 feet long, manned by a single diver who vacumes up the sand of the sea floor and sluices it for gold. The miner across the dock from us showed us his pan with and estimated two ounces of gold, his day's take.

On approach to Nome, we saw something we hadn't seen for the past 4000 miles: trees! The arctic is bare, bare, bare, and the anchorage we're in is green, green, green!

We left Nome after only a short stay because the weather predictions showed decent weather for three days in the Bering Sea, a sea notorious for poor conditions. Unfortunately, it's a 4-day passage and the last 24 hours was an upwind slog. I'm glad we had such a protected anchorage to wait for the 4-knot tidal current around the cape. Our next stop will be the fishing town of Kings Cove where we'll await the passage of a gale in the Gulf of Alaska before heading for Glacier Bay.

The picture is from our crossing of the Arctic Circle southbound, officially completing the Northwest Passage. We presented certificates and had a celebratory beverage.

Yesterday, we celebrated crossing the Arctic Circle southbound in the North Pacific--officially completing our transit of the Northwest Passage.

But the adventure continues...we should arrive in Nome, AK this afternoon. Then we have to brave the unpleasant and sometimes dangerous weather in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska on our way back to warmer climes.

Thanks to all of you who have sent us comments and best wishes for our safe and successful expedition.

Two night ago, we received the ice chart showing "green" ice for the 33 remaining miles south from Pasley Bay to the edge of the fully melted zone. Green means 30% ice coverage or less.

We raised anchor and left Pasley Bay immediately on getting the ice chart but we all had some trepidation as the previous 2 days charts had shown a small green passage and we went out and found that no passage existed---we';d turned back to Pasley Bay twice. Third Time's a charm I guess.

We dodged ice floes for four hours. The current was with us and we made more than 9kts the entire way. Then we entered "blue" water which has 10% or less ice. Not enough that you have to find pathways through but enough that a vigilant lookout is requred as there are many little bits large enough to do serious damage.

After several more hours our blues were over and we entered the white water which the Canadian Ice Service says is Ice Free.

In another 1800+ miles we'll be in Nome, AK. The route is currently ice-free for the remainder of the trip.

The photo is from the masthead camera looking at "green" water with 30% ice. It looks like there is no path but one can feel their way through and find a way.

What an Adventure!

We have arrived at Ft Ross and anchored to wait for more ice to clear. Along the way, we wound our way through the ice floes. The weather was spectacular, mostly clear and sunny. We have been joined at the anchorage by Plum, a 72 ft Solaris sailboat and Akademic Ioffe, a tourist cruise ship.

Ashore at Ft Ross, there is a hut which was originally placed by the Hudson Bay company.

Amongst the ice flows, we met the critter in the picture by Brian.

We've taken the 250-mile jaunt eastward to the hamlet of Pond Inlet. It's the first community we've seen since leaving Greenland--in fact, the first sign of human habitation! We've seen a few ships and other sail boats, but this is the first sign of people actually living this far north.

The reason for the detour is that ice is melting a bit later this year and by refilling the propane, diesel, and larder, we hope to be able to make better time further along.

We loaded about 1000 litres of Diesel using our 7 5-gallon jerry cans. The crew made perhaps 20 dinghy trips from Celebrate to shore with the fuel. After the first hour, we were joined by numerous local kids who begged and charmed their way to dinghy rides out to the boat.

Our most recent ice charts show the ice clearing in the central passage and we will be underway again this evening with high hopes and full tanks!