Still bouncing along

I'm *still* amazed I can sleep on a trip like this. I was afraid to actually get out of bed, because of the abuse received when standing or walking the hallways. At some point yesterday, I nearly knocked the stuffing out of myself trying to get to the bathroom. Sitting here, in my room, I can feel my spine expanding and contracting by an inch or so, depending on the wave action. We're migrating a long stretch without much protection- -and I haven't been up and outside to see if there were any whales. This morning's breakfast: oatmeal & toast.

Movie: "Free Range". a bit over cinematic and overdramatic -- typical Costner. However, there are a couple nice gunfight sequences.

Darkness descends

Skipper brought our course in close to Cleveland. Unfortunately, it's been both too dark and too cloudy to tell much. By morning we should be long past this place. I actually caught a glimpse of the weather charts. Lots o' pins on the flags. Also plenty of triangles. pins - 10mph (I think), Flags - 50mph. Gonna try to sleep tonight, but I don't have my hopes up.

The Islands of the Four Mountains

We're in the cradle of the Islands of the Four Mountains. Unfortunately, our mountain of choice - Cleveland - is shrouded in clouds; as are all the other islands. The water has smoothed out enough for us to eat, though I can't say that I'm extremely eager to do so, even with a moment of peace. Tonight: Rueben & stroganoff. Yesterday we had ? Day before was Steaks (mmm) -- I think. It all mushes together. Somewhere in our dinner menus, we've had Corned beef, too. How many days have I been out here?

I found out later, that perhaps cleveland had an eruption. No sign from down below, though...

more weather and bartering

We eased out of Mutton Cove and cruised past Okmok en route to the Isle of four mountains (Cleveland Volcano and friends). We expect, as usual, bad weather and large waves. What we find instead is sunshine and whales. I spent time 'till about noon hanging out in the sun in one place or another. At first, I was laying up on deck, just behind the wheelhouse on the starboard side. Later, I was chilling aft With Cyrus. Lots of whales have been making their presence known, though very few come close to the ship. I shot some video of orcas, though I think several different species have been nearby. Crazy.

Right now, I think the whales are still around, but there's no hanging out on deck. The boat is being tossed about pretty fairly. Early in the day, each person on board joined one of two camps.

Camp#1: "Oh sh**. We're going into some huge water. Gimme drugs!". In this camp, which included Josh, there was haggling of this-type of dramamine/bodine/patches. Patches were applied, drugs were popped in anticipation of a rough day.

Camp#2: "Hah! I've survived this far. Forget drugs!" Well, one by one camp#2 succumbed. First Anthony gave in, then, a short time later, I caved... and finally a somewhat greenish Cyrus took his bodine.

I'm surprised at how quickly the days seem to pass. I mostly spend my time watching movies. I was trying to edit a movie for Kamchatka, but that $&#@# movie maker program keeps crashing. I've also been entertaining myself with moves... let's see... so far I've seen: Slap Shot, Swing Shift, The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly, American Wedding, Scratch, The Bourne Supremacy, The Italian Job, and From Russia with Love. Maybe there's been more, but I don't remember.

I keep trying to start working on my school stuff, but I can't seem to string two coherent thoughts together. I'm still a bit worried about having left my abstract to Steve. I know he can pull it off, but he was (and ALWAYS was) really busy. plech.

Waves are up to the point where now and then you hear the skipper cut the engine. Whenever I hear that noise (er... lack thereof), I just hang on.

From Mutton Cove past Unalaska

Good morning. I'm on anchor/wheel watch right now. Cyrus and I have volunteered to help out the crew by taking on a bit of the night watches. The skipper is up front and in charge all day. While he's asleep, the rest of the crew take turns babystitting in the wheelhouse.
Tonight, were anchored in Mutton Cove, off Chernofski. This is a pretty nice little safe harbor in Unalaska across from Ft. Glenn.

As we were pulling in, a fog was over ft Glenn (surprise. surprise.) and Ship Rock couldn't be seen. However, Tulik stood out rather nicely.
Todays' traverse was pretty smooth, on the grand scheme of things. Yeah, we rocked and rolled and pitched, but it was not nearly as violent as that first night. As reported earlier, though, the weather is supposed to be wretched for the next few days (week). It'll supposedly be blowing 35 or so, with associated big seas. We'll continue down and around Umnak Island, traversing it N & W, until we get to a tiny bay past Okmok. That'll be our best safe harbor until we can make a mad dash across the Islands of the four mountains, and on until a largish Island further down the chain. There's something like 140mi of open water to cross. That means.. uh.. at the MINIMUM like a 20 hr traverse. If we have to cut back on the throttle, it could be 30 hrs or more.

Little by little, I'm easing myself back into work. I've had MatLab open, and have started looking at my data again.

Thar she blows!

Piles of birds and tonnes of whales. We're passing Dutch and Unalaska right now. There are a great may birds all around. But, more exciting than that, there are a great many whales. I'd guess we've passed maybe 20 or so. Only the last few made it to film, though. Judging by all the life, there's plenty o' fish to go around.

anchors away

Maybe my wish was granted. Awoke at 0730 for an early breakfast, only to find that the sea is very calm. Like glass... or, more accurately, like seran wrap. Anchor's already up and we're heading out of the bay. BTW, there was an amazingly huge starfish on the anchor, and (I didn't see them) killer whales in the bay.

Still Parked

We're staying in an inlet somewhere near Akutan (Trident bay) waiting out the storm. Only thing is, the skipper just came back with the weather forecast. Winds from the SW and W, seas no less than 10' (up to 17'!) with winds at 30 or so 'till THURSDAY. Today is Saturday. (sigh)
Anyway, we'll poke our nose out and see if we can't make some progress tomorrow. The cows on the nearby isle don't seem to care one way or the other.

The day was passed watching movies, showing movies (I gave a small presentation on Russia and another on volcanoes), and video games. I'd love to get to where we're going and do what we're going to do... Oh, and I gave my Gumby suit a test drive. It's not to difficult to put on in good circumstances.... however taking it off and folding it back up into the bag can prove troublesome.

Pass the Puffins

Not sure what's up. We must be at a pass. The ocean is ripping past us at high speed, but we're not going anywhere. Upon investigation, we're moving through the pass, and the water isn't moving quite as fast. Puffins and other birds are everywhere.

rough & beautiful

Breakfast about to begin. We're ducking between Akutan (in a bit) and another A__ island. Beautiful. There's two ends of a rainbow up ahead, along with some pretty rocks sticking 50' up out of the water. Everywhere, birds are swarming around us....