We went Sailing!

We woke up Saturday morning, June 24, to cloudy skies and cool temperatures but it wasn’t raining as it had for many days. Raymond and Teresita invited us to go sailing with them. We enthusiastically answered, “Yes.” We drove the Glenn Highway through Anchorage, around the Cook Inlet to the tunnel which leads to Whittier.

You must reach the tunnel by the half hour or you need to wait an hour. It takes cars, RVs and pickups twelve to fifteen minutes to drive the three miles through the mountain tunnel. The traffic goes one way along the dark, narrow stone sides of the hole in the mountain. A sweeper vehicle drives through. Now trains take their turn to drive to or from Whittier. The town was a military installation but now is used by tourists. A fourteen-story cruise ship was anchored in the bay dwarfing the other boats and ships.

Raymond backed the van to hitch up the trailer holding the ship named the “Jolly Cork” and towed it to the ramp. After sliding into the water, and moving the van and trailer back into the parking lot, we were on our way. Prince William Sound’s turquoise water was calm so we used the motor to get underway. The boat’s interior is similar to a small RV. It sleeps four, has a galley with propane stove and sink and has it’s own toilet.

Do you remember that we were on Prince William Sound when we were in Valdez? Whittier is on the west side of the sound while Valdez is on the east side of the sound. The two towns are approximately 100 miles apart via water but over 300 miles apart via roads. Have I mentioned that Alaska is huge?

We rode with the shoreline visible on both sides of the boat. The trees are a lush dark green. Rocks are various shades of light brown to black. The mountains vary from the blue snow of glaciers to white capped peaks. We passed a rookery where the sea gulls were nesting. Thin bands of water trickled down the mountains where they met and formed larger waterfalls. We anchored in a cove where five waterfalls met to form one large white cascade of water flowing into the bay. The sound of the waterfall was music to accompany our lunch. Sometimes the sails caught a gentle breeze and we were able to navigate without the motor. An eagle soared over our heads. A seal dove into the water and bobbed up with a salmon in his mouth. Sea Gulls fluttered around the seal hoping for leftover seafood. After six hours of sailing, we returned the ship to dock and made the return trip through the mountain tunnel and along the highway home. It was a great day!