We Crossed The Gulf Of Alaska

Made it to Prince William Sound

A few days ago, Akeeva crossed the Gulf of Alaska! We ran offshore for 42 hours straight, about 350 nautical miles (about 403 land miles). It was wild and my first time overnight and offshore. Sam and I have been talking about going offshore in the Gulf to Prince William Sound for a long time. Akeeva is a very ocean-capable boat, has lots of fuel, water, is comfy, and has stabilizers (makes rolls not as bad), but I was still nervous.

For the crossing Sam and I still had two good friends, Erika and Josh, aboard (which was so much fun, and delicious). The first (kind of) day of the crossing/exposure to the Gulf was when we went to a place called Lituya Bay. We were only in the Gulf of Alaska for 6 hours, but it was a 5-foot swell and I started to get sick. These conditions for a fisherman or someone saltier than me would be nothing, but I am in this for PLEASURE boating, not to fish or prove some perfect storm sea chops. I took a Bonine and fell asleep until we got to the very protected, calm, and only-accessible-at-flood-tide anchorage in Lituya Bay.

Part of a mountain side fell into Lituya bay in 1958, causing one of the biggest mega-tsunami waves (1,722 feet, moving at 120mph), destroying boats and killing a few people anchored there.

I don’t know if it was my Bonine hangover, the cloudy weather, calmness, or knowing what had happened in Lituya, but the anchorage felt eerie. We were the only boat in the bay, and the lower glaciers at the end of the bay were muddy and rocky. Later in the evening, we could see dramatic snow peaks shining through the clouds. Josh made awesome fried chicken sandwiches that night (including from-scratch buns and slaw) as we figured we should eat up before the major part of the crossing.

We walked around a beach on Cenotaph Island in Lituya Bay in the morning and then left that evening at flood tide for the crossing. I was super anxious. Lot of buildup, and the day before I did not do so well in the swell. Thankfully, the swell went down, the wind was low, I planned my pharmaceuticals well, and I put an anti-nausea scopolamine patch on that morning.

Overall, the crossing was a little bit intense/weird, but totally fine! Even when it’s low, being out in the swell is just constant motion the whole time. I did not get sick, but I did have a low appetite and felt some wooziness at times, like a bad drug hangover. Sam and I took turns sleeping, and the first day, after a nap, I stayed up with Josh till 5 am. That was probably the strangest moment, being in the middle of the sea when it finally got dark enough that you can’t see much except maybe a faint horizon line in one direction. Talk about OUT THERE. But having a person to experience that with and watch movies to pass the time (God bless auto-pilot) made it not so bad! The final night I stayed up till 2 am, and when I went down, I took off my patch and took a Bonine to pass out. When I woke up at 7 am the boat felt so still, but the engine was still on, so I knew we had made it to Prince William Sound! I ran up to the pilothouse and saw jagged snow-capped peaks and bright sun. It was so beautiful and calm I cried. We did it!

I was surprised during the 42-hour crossing that I did not see more animals, (once I saw a dolphin, a few fish jump, some interesting birds). I was also surprised we did not see more fish boats, or any boats for that matter. At one point in the first night, I saw a fishing boat miles and miles away, and almost radioed just to be like “Hi, we out here huh?” but refrained since that didn’t seem cool. For much of the trip during the day we could see in the distance large snowy mountains in Alaska that provided some strange comfort.

As soon as we got to the first anchorage, we had a bottle of champagne, homemade bagels, and smoked fish brunch on top of the boat. (Josh made BAGELS with malt from Germany, while we were doing the gulf crossing!)

Josh and Erika were with us for 3 more nights in Prince William Sound and we had wonderful weather. We even found a sandy beach and had a day party in the sunshine, complete with swimming! Prince William Sound has not disappointed so far. The landscape is different (thank God, cause if we made this trek and it looked the same as Southeast Alaska, I would have been bummed tbh), I have seen lots of wildlife, there is more knoll and shore access, and WAY more glaciers. Lots of glaciers. Also, noticeably there are way fewer cruising boats like ours, which are common in Southeast Alaska, and lots of day boats and fishing boats.  But more on PWS (Prince William Sound) adventures soon.

We dropped off Josh and Erika in Whitter, sad to say goodbye to friends and so thankful for their visit. I am in Cordova now, a very industrial fishing town, like we are the only non-fishing boat I have seen….so I’m stocking up on salmon!