SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip
| Vessel Name: | Panta Rhei |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Able Apogee 50 |
| Hailing Port: | Seattle |
| Crew: | Larry and Karen |
| Social: |
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18 September 2017 | Seattle
We are back in Seattle
It feels like home. Of course we are not in Silshole. Maybe we will be, someday, but there is a list and we are on it. In the meantime we are at Bainbridge Island Marina.
23 August 2017 | Prince Rupert
The dinghy holds air again
It wasn't very nice of the bear to tear the fabric across a seam. We were worried that we couldn't patch it but tried anyway. The glue had a job to do and it did it!
15 August 2017 | Anan Bear Observatory
A Grizzly Bear damaged our dinghy
We were visiting the Anan Bear Observatory south of Wrangell. It is one of the best places to visit in all of SE Alaska BECAUSE it has bears. But (as we learned) there is a dark side to this bear concentration. And of course, there is a story to tell.
19 July 2017 | Petersburg, AK
Moving On
"No matter where you go, there you are" (unknown reference). By now we have been there and done that. Most recently that included Cannery Cove on Admiralty Island. The photo shows the quiet grandeur of the setting with Ron and Suzie's boat SV Tango in the foreground. It has been like that for the last [...]
17 June 2017 | Hoonah, AK
We are in Hoonah, SE Alaska now
We got something resembling a high pressure ridge so we moved expeditously across the Gulf of Alaska. The crossing took three days and weather stayed as forecast. That was a very good thing. The weather changes in the far north far more rapidly and dramatically than we ever experienced in the more southern [...]
03 June 2017 | Seward AK
Crossing the Gulf of Alaska
We are still in Seward, AK. Now that spring has come, why not start south?
Panta Rhei Arrived in Seward, Alaska
Along the way we had a few surprises. Noises always surprise us. We hit a log, many clumps of kelp (it aggregates into a truly imposing clump), and changes of current. How do you hit changes of current? I really don't know, but I can hear them when the propellor experiences them, same as I can hear changes of pitch in the boat caused by swell. And it worries me because it is hard to identify positively. This is the land of currents though. They are everywhere and they are sometimes rapidly changing. And if the boat goes fast enough during a current change, it interferes with the propellor loading enough to shake the boat, like a wet dog at the beach. Arggggh. That worries me.
We survived "wind amplifiers", too. That is where the weather predicted is easy (say 15 knots) but the actual weather is much worse (say 45 knots). Did I say MUCH worse. That is the weather amplifier affect and weather amplifiers are all along the Alaska Pennisula. The locals know where, but newbies have to learn from scratch. You can avoid weather amplifiers by having no weather to amplify. Wait for calm. That's our strategy. It works, but you might wait quite a while!
Somehow, our boat survives all this. Actually, as we came to the dock in Seward, it seemed to still be running fine. That after a very very long trip with lots of motoring.
And Seward is a tourist town. Lots of good restaurants, stores, laundromats, an RV park. We are liking it. But so far it is a little thin on internet. We will see if we can get cellular internet service possibly through AT&T. That's a tomorrow task. For today, I got enough internet to get my Apple devices working again. All I had to do was log in to my Apple account. I think this was to force me to accept new changes to terms and conditions. Anyway, it is completely unacceptable to lock me out of my applications without warning me. I will write an email to Apple.
Its not dark yet, but it is late. So we will go to bed. Tomorrow is a busy day.
