My new friend Red stopped by last night with a beautiful thick piece of King Salmon. I cooked it for lunch today – I am stuffed. There is still more to eat, what a chore.
Last night in Roses Bar I met a lady from Anchorage who has 57 dogs for pulling sledges. Interesting to hear how they work and travel. The dogs can cover fifty miles a day easily, camp out at night and do it again the next day. Its not a good idea to fall off the sledge as the dogs don’t stop. A bit like falling overboard when the boat is on autopilot I suppose.
I enjoyed my stay in Pelican, described as ‘a drinking village with a fishing problem’. I have seen other places in Alaska described the same way. They certainly do catch a lot of fish.
This morning was raining, wet, overcast, misty and generally damp all over. Gradually it cleared and this afternoon I had a spectacular view of Glacier Bay mountains and the Brady Glacier in the distance across Cross Sound.
This morning we crossed fifty-eight degrees North. It sounds a lot but in reality it’s the same as North Scotland, I used to work much higher latitudes in the North Sea. It’s just the topography here make sit so unique in close proximity to the mighty North Pacific Ocean and its massive weather systems.
On the trip up from Pelican I saw a whale ahead. I was standing in the cockpit looking ahead for him and he surfaced next to the boat. The first I knew was when I heard the explosive sound of his exhale, I nearly jumped out my skin. I saw the first Puffins today, my book tells me they are Horned Puffins and not tufted Puffins.
Yesterday I was doing a bit of cleaning up and contemplating where all the hair and bits come from. It’s the human body of course, constantly shedding skin and hair. I then got to thinking that the boat is a bit like a spaceship, self-contained, life support systems on board and you can’t get off once underway. Now on a boat all the body bits get swept up and dumped overboard, its easy. But what about in a spaceship or a spacesuit? Could a stray clump of belly button fluff shut down a spaceship? I bet NASA know a lot about body bit management and how to stop stray hairs fouling up oxygen generators. Maybe that was why the first astronauts were all clean shaved before a mission. The Russians must have cracked the problem early, they sent a hairy monkey on the first flight (Imagine trying to shave a monkey).
Anyway, Elfin Cove looks like an interesting place. Its built on boardwalks around a double cove. Like Pelican the winter population shrinks to about fifty or sixty hardy souls. There is a school, post office, store, fuel dock and bar-restaurant. Holiday homes and fishing lodges are springing up around the cove. At the moment its buzzing with fishermen. Tomorrow I may head over to the North side of Cross Sound towards Brady Glacier – weather dependent. Total voyage distance 1,343.1 miles.
Logged 30th June 2016
The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson 
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