We arrived in Kodiak 10:40, July 9. Weather forecast is calling for 40 kts and 16' seas so we weren't in a hurry to leave. This is a very nice town & harbor. Kodiak has nice trees, but the other end of the Island is as bare

of trees as all the places since we left Russia. It is very clean, great

people, great scenery and a great harbor. In fact if you consider all the previous and the closeness of all the services its the best harbor that we have ever been to. The people were helpful with everything, the harbormaster office is close and helpful, there is a marine supply store, hardware store, laundry & internet, 2 bars, 2 restaurants and other services within 1 block and a grocery store within 2 blocks. There were many other stores and 2 museums and fuel supply close. We hope to come again.

We were in someone else's slip, but he let us stay there when he came back and gave us great smoked salmon and frozen halibut. We met Kevin, Marcie and Ayla Millett on a beautiful cat from HoloHolo Charters from Hawaii. He made the boat himself and planned to sail south to warmer waters from here.

Also local Alaska cruisers Jerry and Janet George who may be the only Alaskans to get married in Westminster Hall. He is well known in Alaska from Engineering many construction projects as well as lending his expertise by teaching in both Russia and China. Thank you for the wonderful supper and stories.

Lovely sunshine July 12 in Kodiak and we were off for Elfin Cove at 15:30 after fuelling up. We had nice weather for our final blue water crossing.

After this open ocean crossing we will be in the Inside Passage and in protected waters for the balance of our Voyage. It was a memorable crossing with nice weather, light winds and nice golden twilight at the darkest hour, and if that wasn't enough we had a bright full moon. This kind of sailing will make it hard to give up and become a landlubber again. We put out one stabilizer to reduce the roll and are enjoying the big swells.

Note of interest. We picked up a NOAA radio information sheet and it has some interesting facts and records for Alaska.

Attu - highest wind gust 159 mph, Dec. 7, 1950

Cold Bay - averages 304 cloudy days per year

Whittier - most snow (sea level station) in 1 month, 204 inches Jan. 1948

Thompson Pass - most snow (mountain station) in one season 974 inches

1952-1953

Fort Yukon - highest temperature recorded in Alaska 100 F in June 27, 1915

Prospect Creek - lowest temperature recorded in Alaska and US -80F January 23, 1971

Valdez - most snow (sea level station) in one season 561 inches 1989-1990

Elfin Cove is a very beautiful little place. We walked the lovely boardwalks, phoned and bought some groceries, but no luck on the internet.

Don't let anyone ever convince you that there is good communication world wide.

We spent the night of July 15 at Elfin Cove, then on to Glacier Bay where the fog lifted and we saw some spectacular scenery.

Our pictures will tell most of the story at Glacier Bay. There are many different glaciers and fantastic inlets. Like so much of the real far north by the sea it is cool, but that is a small price to pay for this rugged scenery.

Dan Green from Oregon contacted us and so we stopped at Beartrack Bay and visited him and his interesting friends. Then at 23:00 we headed out for Peril Passage and Sitka.