SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip

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?

Overfalls and Sharks

20 June 2015 | 140 nm to Lenakai on Tanna Island

Larry Nelson

We are headed to Tanna Island (Lanakei village) in Vanuatu. This may not be the best choice. It certainly isn't the easiest. Tanna really doesn't have any safe all weather anchorages. So we need to arrive in good weather, not the typical south east trades. And we need to arrive on a weekday when customs is open, preferrably sometime between 8 am and 5 pm local time. We have a weather window that may allow this, but it is narrow. We need to leave Baie of Prony 1 day and 10 hours before we want to arrive at Tanna. And there is one other problem. Tide currents in the Havana Passage are strong and they create overfalls. Overfalls are regions of standing waves like you would find in a nice trout stream. Only, these standing waves are taking steroids. We have to transit them a 3 am in pitch dark in a coral maze. Just how big are they? The book doesn't say. It just says dangerous.

So we launch from our anchorage precisely at 1:00 am local time. We are going to pass through the worst of he overfalls at 3 am. 4 am is peak current. The current is with us on the passage and we arrive at 3:05 am. Pretty good. We have no idea how bad it will be but we are moving fast into them, 10.5 knots speed over ground. Boat speed is 7 knots. It is completely black in front of us. We moved in very rough water for about 10 minutes and it was over. Some waves swept the foredeck. All of this made the captain seasick. So I went to bed after clearing the reef that is past the overfalls. Or at least I wanted to go to bed.

The hatch above the bed wasnt correctly closed, so we got gallons of sea water onto my bed. A seasick person really doesn't care, but fortunately my wife isn't sea sick. After a time, other arrangements were made for me to sleep and my crew cleaned up the mess. Its all drying now. I love my crew.

When we came to anchor last night we had barbecued pork chops for dinner. Our table scraps were bones and fat from those chops. We threw them overboard and they were very promptly consumed (think instantly for the start) by a school of sharks. No one thought to go swimming after that even though the water was clear and warm.

Larry

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