Whew! What a trip! Good weather and bad, it's been the most fun I've ever had...we've ever had. The boat has just been phenomenal: everything has worked. Changing to live-aboard is a huge difference from a week at a time. If we don't have it, we'll do without.

Crossing the Gulf was a four day exercise since we had nothing but wind on the nose. Yes, we could have tacked our way, but that would have increased our time dramatically, and we wanted to get across in the shortest amount of time. So, we motored 24 hours a day for four days. One of us was on watch each moment so we were off watch in 3-hour increments. Three hours is not a lot of sleep time, but after day two we got somewhat used to it. The cats were NOT happy with the noise and motion, but they both survived. The autopilot that I had installed worked perfectly. While it was supposed to, the fact that it was put through a calibration routine but received no shake-down meant that we depended on a completely un-tried device. Not to worry, though, since it integrated with the rest of the network and sent and received information flawlessly for four days. It did all the driving. There are photos of the crossing on our site.

Elfin was just lovely and the people were delightful. We had used about 97 gallons of our 120 gallons of fuel, so we re-fueled there at a bit higher price than we're used to paying.

Elfin is just as beautiful as we had heard. Not many residents, but Joanne, owner of THE store, seemed to keep them in line. Potty training fishermen is not an easy task, but she had the cleanest public showers that we've ever seen. With clean bodes and clothes, we left for Pelican.

Another lovely town but in dire staits, Pelican is a postcard of Southeast towns. Sitting on stilts since it's built right on the water, Pelican has lot its cannery, its ice machine, and is fighting to prevent a lethal increase in energy prices from killing the remaining town. They're well represented by Karen, a typical strong-willed person fighting to keep her community alive. We wish them well.

Since fuel was even pricier in Pelican, we returned to Elfin Cove for another shower (love that hot water!) and more fuel. That left us ready for the trip to Glacier Bay.

Wow! It's HUGE! Glaciers everywhere, whales everywhere, bare rock everywhere. We saw few land mammals: a single grizzly, a few herds of mountain goats. There are two main arms to the park: Muir Inlet and Johns Hopkins Inlet. We explored both, spending five days in the park, including one storm day holed up in Goose Cove. It's a place we'd both like to see again.

From Glacier Bay, we traveled to Gustavus, a tiny fishing town with about one-hundred full-time residents. It has no natural harbor so a long pier was built out into the tidal flats. But OH, those tides! When they were in ebb or flood, the boat rocked like it was a carnival ride. Sleep was difficult, the cats puked: thoroughly unpleasant. The town itself, though, was lovely. It even boasts a nine-hole "wilderness" golf course. I think you'd need a string trimmer in your golf bag along with your clubs.

After a tiring night in Gustavus, we made it to Hoonah. Two local police officers had been ambushed and shot by a local miscreant two weeks before we arrived and the official funeral was taking place just as we arrived. Regardless, we were received by everyone in a very friendly way. Great little town, very nice people. To illustrate, the Gallery Restaurant in the Misty Bay Lodge was hosting a birthday party for owner Hope Anderson. We were invited in, given birthday cake, and make to feel at home. How wonderful.

After two days in Hoonah, and taking on a moderate amount of fuel, we headed for Juneau. In lovely weather, we motorsailed the entire way, entering the city after dark. We had the Douglas bridge to go under, though, our first such activity. With a 50 ft mast, five feet off the water, we made it under, but have no idea by how much. Whew!

My old students, now friends, Laura Achee and Clint Farr, dropped by the boat just after we tied up and helped us celebrate our arrival in town.

So, here I sit in Juneau, in the sun, awaiting a tour with Laura. More later. We'll call everyone.