Sunday, July 27, 2008

Tagalda, Aiktak, Ugamak, Unimak, 7/26/08, by Bob

This morning we all kayaked. There were seals, sea otters, tons of puffins and other birds, foxes, and a few rhinocerus. I walked up
a hill. The place we anchored looked surreal with the rocks sticking up and masses of birds flying around.

Fullerton fished for crabs with panty hose and some meat, but he didn't catch any. I'm not going into details.

When we left we took the boat out to the sea lions and took pictures of them. Then we headed to Unimak Island via Aiktak and Ugamak.

Unimak Island is 58 miles long. It's separated from the Alaska Peninsula by less than a half mile of water. We plan to go through
that half mile in a day or two. It's got one town (False Pass, 54 people) and a half dozen or so volcanos. None are erupting, so
far. Shishaldin Volcano is over 9000 feet high.

We are anchored at Promontory Cove in 16 feet of water, the shallowest we've been since we got to the Aleutians. The wind is 6 knots
from the northeast. The outside air temparture is 51. The inside air temperature is 62. It's cloudy, but no rain or fog.

The water temperature is a balmy 50! That's the warmest we've seen for weeks. Yesterday and most of today the water temperature was
43 and 44. Maybe it's because we're in a relatively shallow bay with the rivers running into it. Or maybe we're past all the large
openings to the Bering Sea, and we're getting some warm water from down south as it runs west between Kodiak Island and the Alaska
Peninsula. Or maybe our thermometer broke.

The outdoor sensor started reading over 100 degrees after we hosed down the boat. Then it fixed itself tonight. It must have gotten
a little damp.

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