Kodiak was fun. It's a beautiful little city with a nice harbor, and was a good place to stay for a few days and rest up. Had some nice restaurants, a nice micro brewery - in fact, I picked up a hoodie sweatshirt there with the logo of one of their beers featured on the back. I wanted the one with the airplane on it, but since it was sold out, I proudly bought one featuring: Sarah Pale Ale
http://www.kodiakbrewery.com/posters.htm
Was it good? You Betcha!
At the brewery we met some very cool young people who worked as crew on a local fishing boat. As it turned out, we were neighbors and we visited each other's boats. They were crewing for a guy named Barry. Since they fished for salmon, Barry had named his boat...........yes, you guessed it! Salmon Barry! Good name, and it, once again, reminded us of those wonderful berries.
After a few days off in Kodiak, we were rested and ready to head out to Seward, so on Monday, August 8, we set out. Our conditions had been forecast to be light, and they were, but things did pick up during the night and allowed us to make speed enough to reach Seward well before dark the second day. It was a good thing too, because as we were motoring up the very spectacular Resurrection Bay, we detected a vibration in the drive train. It turned out to be the dripless prop-shaft seal leaking. Truly an attention-getting event. This seal is what keeps the ocean out of our boat where the prop shaft exits the hull. So, we requested an emergency haul out with the marina for the next morning. No worries, and they set it up. Once we were in, we found that with the engine not actually running, we could put it off and haul when the boat yard could easily take us. So then, our voyage to Seward was now complete. We are very impressed with Alaska and are really to have come. The people are fantastic, and the place itself is beyond belief beautiful. As we motored up Resurrection Bay, we spotted what looked like big white buildings on the shore. These turned out to be giant icebergs breaking off one of the many glaciers here. Stunning. And it goes on and on. The beauty and majesty of nature never quits here. The car license plate reads: Alaska, The Last Frontier. There is truth in that, and we intend to see much more of it. For now, our goal of reaching Seward before the weather turned has been met, and with the development of the drive shaft seal, we are glad we didn't take any longer.
....Be excellent to each other!