The Polar Ranger as we transfered to the landing craft.
Haven’t been updating because my posts via the sat phone have been bouncing - apparently- they have been going thru anyway.After Savoonga, we went to Nome, then Katsabue. This is another place where our boat can’t land, so we were supposed to hand off the barge to one of the landing craft. The weather was too rough for the landing craft to take the barge, so we spent a week anchoring, then dragging anchor, re-anchoring then driving around in circles.
Finally got the barge
handed off, then waited several days for weather to calm down to get it back. Then back to Nome. Then we stopped at Dillingham.
Our next stop was to be Naknek, but weather again prevented us from coming in. So several more days of going back and forth until today. A break in the weather let us get in. Weather is getting worse, so now we are stuck here. Should be here until Monday or so. Then off to Dutch and then Seattle.
Should get back around Oct. 17th.
Drying Salmon
Yesterday we went into Savoonga, the little village on St. Lawrence Island. We went over on the landing craft “Sam Talaak”. We had a little excitement on the transfer over from the Ranger - the surge got concentrated between our boats and made things a bit rough and wet. After a couple attempts, we got over. “You guys must really want shore leave.”
The “Sam Talaak” landed on the beach, and we walked up the gravel/mud road towards town. Immediately a older guy on a 4×4 came up and asked if we wanted to go to the store and gave us a ride. The four of us made the machine struggle, but we made it the 200 yards to the store. It was a good thing he drove us, as the store wasn’t really marked. All the buildings look the same. Gray plywood, corrugated steel roofs, and insulated piping above ground joining them all in a weird network.
The people were friendly, especially when they found out we were buying ivory carvings. Nearly every one we met asked if we wanted carvings, and pulled something out of their sleeves. They must have been watching us arrive, since, besides the small group of Mormons who just arrived, we were the only strangers in town.
I bought a few pieces and a walrus tusk.
Today we are heading to Nome, where we are going to swap our nearly empty barge for a full one. We are then headed to Kotzebue - on the other side of the Bering Strait and above the Arctic Circle. Plan is for me and the other deckhand to get on board a smaller tug and take it up the river to unload cargo for 3 days.
For the last couple of days we have been making circles off shore of St. Lawrence Island while we lighter. Lightering means a landing craft comes along side our barge while we are moving, and takes a load off. Then, the lighter load goes to the beach. They drive right up the beach to the only road and deliver the cargo. Most of this cargo is a new school in the form of lumber, steel beams and trussels.
Yesterday, we could see Russia which is less than 30 miles away. Today we are going ashore to see what there is to see, and maybe buy some native carvings.
!DSPAM:40,46deb32e324671709460852!
