Paying our dues

That is basically the best way we can reason what we did for the past 2 weeks, we paid our dues. We spent a month and half going up to and through the Northwest Passage, and we saw some amazing sights. We encountered a lot of icebergs, some pack ice, and we had our own problems along the way, but it was nothing we couldn’t overcome thanks to Alex’s careful planning. The price for all this relatively easy going was 2 weeks of cold, bleak, grey sailing around Northern Alaska with a 40-50kt low pressure system built in for good measure. We paid the price and were greeted with the reward on our last few miles in to Dutch Harbor today. I don’t think any of us really knew what to expect, but whatever it was, what we got blew us away. Dutch Harbor and all of the Aleutian Islands, from what I can tell, are beautiful. Lush green volcanic mountains rising straight out of the sea up to jagged and occasionally snow capped peaks. It’s spectacular. We were also greeted with the mesmerizing sight of what must have been well over one hundred humpback whales right outside of Dutch Harbor. As we approached, the sun broke through the clouds, the forecasted 25kts disappeared down to a glassy calm and all of a sudden whales began surfacing everywhere. I mean literally every direction you looked there were a dozen blow spouts and whale’s tails high in the air as they continuously dove back down. We were all spinning in circles on deck trying not to miss the next whale breaching in gigantic smack back into the water. This went on for at least the last hour of our trip if not the last two and, don’t forget, this was all happening with the spectacular sunlit mountainous backdrop…we were blown away. We paid our dues and were justly rewarded, after 2 weeks at sea, with our first real view of what Alaska is. And with fair assurances I’m going to say that Alaska is and is going to keep being, breathtaking. We’re hoping to leave Dutch Harbor Wednesday morning making our way up the southern side of the Aleutian Islands and the Alaskan Peninsula. The plan is to stop in Geographic Bay, where apparently bears play volleyball with salmon in the rivers, then continue on for a quick stop in Kodiak before making for the Alaskan panhandle and the Inland Passage to Vancouver.