Thursday, July 31, 2008

King Cove, Cold Bay, Iliasik, 7/30/08, by Bob

We took off early, got fuel at the Peter Pan cannery in King Cove, and headed for Cold Bay so Josh and Melinda could rejoin the real
world.

Cold Bay has a nice airport with a 10,000 paved runway, but no boat dock or harbor. There is only a large pier with puffins that the
ferry uses, and a hovercraft landing with an old school bus. Around 80 people live there.

We anchored near the pier. Fullerton took a bicycle and me to shore in the dinghy. As I was taking off, a guy drove up and asked
what planet we came from. I had to think. I asked if they got a lot of sailboats in there. He said we were the first he'd seen in 18
years. I followed him to a guy with with pickups for rent and rented one.

I got some photos ready to upload to the web while Josh and Melinda packed and transported their bags to shore. It was a wet, wavy
ride. They used a lot of trash bags. Then we drove around a while. We saw a brown bear with a limp. Their flight was late. Fullerton
and I took off. I'm not sure whether they made it out of Cold Bay. But it's a nice town, so it should be OK if they're trapped.

Fullerton and I motor-sailed to Inner Iliasik Island and anchored for the night. In the process of anchoring, my glassed jumped off
my face and into the deep blue sea. Fullerton already had lost a pair of his glasses. Since he is an optometrist, he called his
office and ordered up a pair apiece to be delivered somewhere to our east such as Kodiak.

We watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High tonight, a how-brow art film. A boat, the Notorious, was passing behind us and called up on
the radio to talk for a bit. He had heard about our trip. Another boat, the Rainier, is anchored not far from us. They are headed
for the Pavlof Islands according to the AIS.

The weather was nice today! It was clear and 58 degrees, and the water temperature is a balmy 50. It's 2:00 am and the outside
temperature is 52.

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