Check out from  B&B with a tasty breakfast


and buy all the necesarry food for our sailing trip to the Glacier falling into the sea.


Return the car by noon next to the Passenger Terminal

and get last hints

how to handle "Encore" for the coming days.

"ENCORE" is an rather old Lady but hopefully capable of crusing through Alaskas water.


At 14:47 we departure from Seward direction south


to Thumb Cove which we will reach 2 hours later.
I inform Kate that the main battery Voltage drops below 10,7V.

We anchor on 20m depth and eat dinner
   

On the Motor Panel the Decompressor gear is missing.
To stop the engine you need to remove the stairs in front of the engine and turn the decompressor gear - see film.


The Echo Sounder is mounted on the bathing ladder and it has to be put into water to get the depth.


We are ready for an excursion to the coast.

Here a view towards ENCORE from the coast.


Back on board I try to figure out why the main battery droped it´s Voltage below 10,7V.
   
....but most likely the generator does not charge the battery to its full capacity or it is simply dead.
The srcews on the battery are loose and I tighten them, but this does not improve the situation.

I got the small 12V battery from Jeff and this is enough for my Radio Set to get Weatherforcast via Shortwave.

Since I do not trust the built in VHF - we checked the audio of the fixed installed VHF Radio and found it was transmitting noise
- listen to the audio on the handheld radio - click on the picture of the handheld
            

our own 

PLBs were istalled into the manual activated live wests.


After tooth cleaning we fell into sleep at about 22:40
It is a quiet night in Thumb Cove.

20m is definetly too much for lifting the anchor by hand!!!!!
It is hard work to get the 10m chain and anchor on board.

We are on the way to Marys Bay on Rugged Island .... and have some strange passenger with us ...


There is light rain and changing winds on the route.

Weatherforecast

via my eqipment is working.
Here the Weather Fax sent from Kodiac Radio on HF issued on 20th July for 22th July - no danger for us!!!!


Wind will decrease and we are safe for the night although the bay is exposed to south-westerly winds.


It`s getting dark and we fell asleep at 22:50

I get up early since today we want to go round Cape Aialik into the Aialik Bay.
After lifting the anchor - which is again a sporty event - we proceed under engine.


It is starting raining and after passing Pilot Rock


we turn around Cape Aialik at about 10:00 and set sails


The weather gets better and after passing small ice in the water


we reach the Holgate Glacier


It is very impressive for us to hear the ice falling down the Glacier.

When leaving Holgate Glacier we see a Wale approaching the ice.



We decice to go for anchor in southern part of Coleman Bay


and set anchor on 21ft


We fill a 5 gallon kanister into the diesel tank to be on the safe side and enjoy the dinner afterwords.


and recognise that we have a shortage on water and set over to the coast for fresh water.
   

We observe jelly fish                                              find some strange signs in a stone
   

find Oystercatcher birds


and get a nice view of our ENCORE in clear Glacier water


Some of us take a rather cold shower outside


Our route so far:


It`s a wonderful sunset and we fall into bed at about 23:00

We get up early and prepare breakfast on the alkohol oven


and perform the daily workout when lifting anchor.


We set sail and on route to Cape Aialik three Orcas are diving under our boat.


Is was wery impressive to recognise that we are part of nature!

We round Cape Aialik at about 14:44 in rain


and proceed north towards Bulldog Cove.

On the way we observe Sea Lions


Sea Otter


and reach Bear Glacier Point - the entrance of Bulldog Cove at about 18:10


We get a hot meal which keeps us alive. It was really a cold and rainy day!!


I am  frozen towards the bones and fell asleep at 20:10

Today it´s sunny.
During breakfast a falmily of Sea Otter is checking what we are doing in their home


After anchor workout we set sails and proceed towards Sunny Cove - on our port side we observe Bear Glacier.


I need to set the anchor three times - so quite a workout for me on that day!

The wind is from NW and blows direct into the cove so I decice to install the anchor alarm on my navigation software!
Here the movements of Encore throughout the night.


We get a wunderful sunset


and are looking forward the next day to get some drinking water and have a hot shower in Seward!

After breakfast on board with reduced water


we proceed towards Humpy Cove to see wher we stay next week


The crew of Humpy Cove is very suprised that we go alongside on their jetty but after explaining that we will stay there in the upcoming days they are very friendly and we get a short introduction of the resort.

With rather strong wind from south we are proceeding towards Seward under foresail only.

and reach the gas station at about 15:20

We refill the 2 diesel kanister and the main diesel tank and proceed to ENCOREs berth N11.

Route back from the Glacier

enjoy the hot shower at the harbour masters building in Seward.

....to be honest: it was a really dirty place but the water was hot.

For dinner we go to the Tap House and enjoy it very much


On the way back we observe a family of River Otter in the marina

After basic cleaning of ENCORE we get the deposit and proceed by bus to the Van Gilder hotel.


Unfortunately the door of the room in the hotel cannot be closed - the door is fresh painted and squeezes.


We decide to book an other hotel and luckily the Summit View Lodge is free and has a bed for 2 persons.
2 of us will sleep on the floor in the citchen.


We clean our clothes at nearby Laundromat and buy food for next week and are prepared for next chapter.
Rather tired we fell asleep early.

Chapter 4: Orca Island Cabins is waiting for us