“We are home” The Alaska Trip is Officially Over

August 4, 2023

I am sitting on our front deck here on Guemes Island watching the boats come and go. We came across the same channel (Guemes Channel) just two days ago on our return journey. We left Roche Harbor Wednesday afternoon headed for Anacortes. It was an easy, clear, and gentle three and a half hour cruise home. Even crossing the Strait of Juan de Fula was easy. Marlene and I tallied up all the “big crossings.” We did 12 straits on our journey to Alaska and back and four rapids. That’s a record for us.

In the coming days I will do a “field notes” blog but for now I will simply say that it was an incredible two and a half month trip. The cruise was very challenging, at times a bit scary, but in the end all very doable. It really comes down to preparation, having the proper weather apps, and—for me—having a professional navigator on board, Marlene. She planned our day to day float plan, and figured out where and when to go. (And what exactly did Greg do I must ask? Drive the boat).

Several people have asked us what is required to make the personal boating journey to Alaska. I would say the following in part:

Having Starlink installed on your boat is a must—not nice to have, its a gotta have. In the month we spent in Alaska well over half the time we were in anchorages where there was absolutely no signal: no cellular, not even VHF to get the weather channel. With Starlink on board all this goes away. It worked 100% of the time, every time. Without it we would have been in trouble on several occasions, like the morning we woke up in Foggy to thick, dense fog. You literally could not see 20 feet in front of our boat. Clearly, Radar was a must that day to both get out of the tricky Inlet as well as being able to navigate to our next destination. But that day when we fired up our Radar it didn’t work. Yes, we had used it before but today, it was not giving us an accurate reading. What did we do? We put our anchor back down, turned on Starlink and called our good friend, and radar expert, Dave who was at home having a morning cup of coffee. He quickly determined that settings were off, told us what to do, and then we were off. All within about 30 minutes. Without Starlink who knows how long we would have been there. Finally, true hardened Alaska boaters have Starlink. Well over half of the boats, big, new, small, and old have Starlink in Alaska. Once again, if you are thinking about traveling on your boat to Alaska, don’t leave home without it.

Another must is a good anchor with a good swivel, and at least 300 feet of chain, if not more. When you travel to Alaska on your boat you will spend most of the time at anchorage. The anchorages can be deep and tricky. You absolutely need a good anchor that you can depend on, and one that grabs and holds to the sea bed quickly. My good friend Steve turned me on to the Vulcan anchor. It’s in the Rocna family of anchors. They seem to be a favorite of Northwest boaters. Most of the boaters I know have Rocna, They scoop and hold well. The entire time we were out our anchor never failed us. It held every time. I also recommend attaching a good swivel. We have the Mantus. The purpose of the swivel is to prevent the chain twisting as the boat moves around in the anchorage, helping to hold your anchor in place.

Next item is having enough chain or rode (meaning rope). In the San Juans we usually anchor in about 25 to 35 feet. In Alaska our average was 50 and has high as 70. The minimum scope (amount of chain you put out) is between 3 to 5 to one. So, if you are in 70 feet if you did 5 to 1 it would require 350 feet of chain. We only have 300 at present so we had to do with less. One of the upgrades we will make to our anchor is to put on 200 to 250 feet of rode to our chain giving us about 500 feet plus in total.

Next up, Alaska savvy friends. When you find seasoned, long time, Alaska boaters, listen to them carefully and hold their advice dear. One such couple that made our Alaska trip so enjoyable and safe were Rob and Barb Hylton. Like us they too have a 37 foot Nordic Tug. But “unlike us” they have been to Alaska 10 times on their boat. Wehad the good fortune to run into them in ShearWater on our journey north. From then on if we had questions, or were looking for suggestions on anchorages, etc, they were always available by phone or text to help. We would not have gone as far north as we did without their advise and encouragement.

Last item: learn to get along in a very confined space. Before we left for our adventure Marlene sat me down and said, “we cannot fight. We can get upset, have heated discussions, but we cannot fight. The space is too confined and we cannot afford to be off our game in unknown, and at times, treacherous waters.” She was right and we held to the plan. Had we not done so some of our boating adventures could have gone differently, like, bad differently.

Thanks to everyone who followed us on our journey. We loved hearing from you. We were far from home but you made it feel closer.

The BIG question is: will we return to Alaska on our boat? ABSOLUTELY YES.