Raspberry, Afognak, Shuyak, 8-7-08, by Bob

This morning about 20 sea otters same to see us off. We came around to Foul Bay where I dived and Fullerton took the Dinghy out for
a ride. I went down to about 90 feet. There were plants, starfish, jellyfish (friendly), and various other forms of life from the
outer solar system. A sea otter came up to about 10 feet from Fullerton in the dinghy. They had a long discussion on the state of
the world and the proper colors of socks.

After leaving Foul Bay we got to sail for the first time in days. We ended up in Big Bay at Shuyak Island. It's a good place to
kayak -- nice calm water and lots of islands. But it's a little hard to get into the bay. There was a lot of kelp across the mouth,
which is generally attached to rocks at some depth. Near the kelp it got shallower. We got into the bay along the north edge, then
followed the chart.

There was a lodge with a boat near where we anchored, but we didn't see any people running around. I kayaked and Fullerton took out
the dinghy.

Kodiak, Stripe Rock, Afognak Island, August 6, by Bob

This morning we ran some more errands, and took off for parts unknown. We went under a bridge, which is unusual in the Minnow. Our
mast is about 79 feet above the water, and the interstate bridge standard clearance is 65 feet or so. This bridge had 110 foot
clearance, but from underneath it looked like we would never make it. But there weren't any loud noises as we went through, other
than a couple of people on shore also amazed that we made it under.

We headed to Stripe Rock, a couple of rocks off Afognak Island where I scuba dived. On the way, Fullerton fished. I made fun of him
for not catching any. We slowed down the boat to do some proper trolling with a plate-type downrigger, but no luck.

There are a lot of boats in Kodiak. There weren't many southwest of town, but we saw 15 or 20 boats today when we left to the
northeast. For several days before we got to Old Harbor, we didn't see any other boats, didn't see them on radar, and didn't even
hear any on the radio.

When I dived at Stripe Rock, As soon as I went in the water, besides noticing how cold it was, I saw small minnows everywhere. They
were maybe 1/4 inch long. Maybe only 5 mm. But there must have been at least 546,261 in my immediate vicinity.

The bottom had huge rocks and canyons and cliffs underwater. I followed the anchor chain to the anchor. Just before I got to the
anchor, the chain went up about 20 feet on a big rock and then down again. I think the charts call this a foul bottom. My kids had
those when they were babies.

Along the deep side of Stripe Rock there was a vertical wall from 70 feet deep to about 30 feet. It had all kinds of things growing
on its side -- lots of strange plants, white cauliflower, several kinds of starfish, and regular fish were swimming around. I took a
lot of photos, but then I noticed the camera case was fogged over and everything was blurry. So I just looked around.

When I came up, I stopped at different levels for safety stops, and swam toward the boat. The safety stops aren't really required at
those depths, but they make me feel better. I had swam toward the Stripe Rock on the bottom. During the time I was down, a tidal
current had developed on the surface. Pushing me away from the boat. It was just enough to get me some more exercise on the way
back. This was the best place I've dived in Alaska. A guy at the dive shop in Kodiak recommended it.

After Stripe Rock we took Afognak Strait during the height of the current against us. That's the way real sailors do it -- with both
engines. For a while we had 5.4 knots against us. We eventually came out of the strait and anchored between Whale and Raspberry
Islands. There were four sea otters around the boat, offering advice, while we anchored.

Fullerton broke out some fishing lures I was making fun of earlier because they claim to have an electronic device that emits
signals at the brain frequency of a fish. I said that was designed to catch fishermen, not fish. Then he caught about 20 cod on one
of them. I caught none.

In case you missed it, you can track the progress (or lack thereof) of The Minnow at:

http://www.charthorizon.com/m/cz/map?vessels=Minnow&history=2008_-_latest

We are making a little progess. We are now closer to Washington (state) than Attu Island.

Kodiak, August 5, 2008, by Bob

We got an early start out of Old Harbor, because there is a narrow pass that is pretty shallow (~7 feet) and we wanted to make it at
high tide, or close to it. The tide there changes 8 or 9 feet, mostly up. From there we motored kind of fast to the town of Kodiak,
because of a direct headwind and because we wanted to do some important sailor stuff in town -- fuel, laundry, groceries, trash,
etc.

We got there, filled up with diesel, tied up to the dock, rented a car, filled scuba tanks and had one repaired, dumped our trash,
did laundry, picked up our glasses at Fedex, and most importantly, we hit the McDonalds drive thru. For some reason, Fullerton still
wanted to eat dinner at a restaurant after McDonalds.

Kodiak was kind of a culture shock for me. I had not seen a town big enough for Walmart of McDonalds since Honolulu almost two
months ago.

Three Saints Bay, Puffin Island, Old Harbor, 8/4/2008, by Bob

This morning we woke up to rain, fog, and a direct headwind. We departed Kaguyak Bay for a bumpy ride to Puffin Island, which had
more sea gulls than puffins. There were hundreds of seals on the rocks. We followed the coast for a while, then went into Three
Saints Bay. Three Saints Bay is a very pretty place.

There used to be a town in Three Saints Bay called Nunamiut. I walked around the site for a while, but the only thing I could see
were some depressions where the buildings probably were, and some posts on the beach that used to hold a dock or a pier.

Then I scuba dived. There were lots of jellyfish, star fish, some sea cucumbers with spikes, a few fish, and lots of seaweed. When I
got out of the water, my lips were burning. One of those impudent jellyfish stung me! I doused my mouth with vinegar and got a
little vinegar in my eye which burned worse than the jellyfish. My lips didn't swell or turn red, they just burned. My forehead was
affected a little bit. these were the only parts of my body not covered by rubber. But I did get some decent jellyfish photos.

We headed to the head of the bay and Fullerton made a valiant yet unfruitful attempt at outwitting scaled aquatic animals. Satisfied
that the salmon population was safe secure,

After Three Saints Bay we tooled into Old Harbor, a booming city of about 200 people. After we anchored, we walked around town, took
photos of the Russian style church, and met a couple of other boaters, Jill and Doug. They had some long rowboats instead of kayaks.
I mentioned that I had read a book about a couple of people who rowed those. Jill asked if it was "Rowing to Latitudes." It was. She
wrote it!

It was Jill Fredston and Doug Fesler. She also wrote a couple of books on snow and avalanches. They are also two of the country's
top avalanche experts. I'm not sure what the odds are of meeting them in Old Harbor, Alaska, but it must be something slightly less
than 50-50. We checked out each others' boats and swapped books. They also showed us some good places to visit on our trip east.
They're really nice people.

Photos!

Some Aleutian pictures! In fact, there are a lot. I haven't had a chance for captions, but they're organized by island. The date and
latitude / longitude are inside the .jpg files. If you need to know how to access that, please contact the computer guru, Jerry
Webster, at 918 373 0777.

http://xpda.com/aleutians/

Whether, 8/4/2008 9:49 am, by Bob

We are near Kodiak, 56°34'N, 53°37'W
Outside temperature: a balmy 52 degrees
Inside temperature: 62
Water temperature: 52.5
Light rain
Visibility 1/2 mile, fog
Wind out of the northeast at 15 knots

Yesterday we saw three boats, the first in three days.

Tugidak, Sitkinak, Kodiak, August 3, 2008, by Bob

We got to Tugidak in the morning and anchored. I slept. There is a large beach (on the east side, anyway), and a shallow slope. We
were over a half mile from land anchored in 13 feet of water. And there is a large tide there. Even though the swells weren't that
big, there was a pretty good surf on the beach. Around noon we headed out toward the other trinity island, Sitkinak. We drove around
it to Kaguyak Bay on Kodak.

Kaduyak was a small village first reported in 1868. In 1964 it was wiped out by a tsunami generated by the big earthquake and has
not been rebuilt.

I scuba dived near the mouth of the bay. When I jumped in the water, I was fiddling around with the camera and then I noticed that
the knife in my hand was not in my hand any longer. So I went down to the bottom and looked around until I found it. Visibility was
only 10 or 15 feet. I was thinking that I should have dived in one of the many places we had anchored with crystal clear water.

There were lots of big starfish with lots of legs. There were a lot of jellyfish, too, but they were friendly. I saw a big (about 4
feet) skate on the bottom. It looked like a boxy stingray. A couple of starfish got on top of the anchor chain, and one even came up
with the chain when we left. We let it go.

We went a couple of miles to the head of the bay. There were a lot of crab pots. Fullerton decided we should get a crab out and
leave some cash inside, but it was too heavy to pull up. We went to shore and saw some bear manure but no village.

August 2, 2008, Lighthouse Rocks, Aghiyuk, Kateekuk, Chowiet, Suklik, Chirikof, by Bob

Just about sunup we came to Lighthouse Rocks. Lighthouse Rocks are about 45 miles southeast of the Alaska Peninsula and more than 25
miles from the the nearest island. The main rock is 500 feet long and 90 feet high. The Navtech Eletronic charts show Lighthouse
Rocks about 0.3 miles north of where they really are. The paper charts are correct. In case you find youreslf in the area,
Lighthouse Rocks are at 55°46.6N, 157°24.5W.

Lighthouse Rocks had hundreds of thousands of common murres, a black and white seabird. There were also a bunch of Steller sea
lions. We didn't see a lighhouse. The big rock is spectacular, coming out of the ocean with vertical (almost) cliffs on three sides,
a hole through the center, and a huge cloud of birds flying around it.

I was pretty nervous about getting too close, because the charts were a little flaky, and even on the paper chart there was almost
no depth information. But we got within a few hundred feet and the depth was more than 100 feet except for the east side.

Some of the sea lions were high up on the rock, maybe 30 feet, in places that looked impossible for them to climb. Birds covered
almost every flat surface. Other than birds, sea lions, and moss, the Lighthouse Rock is bare. If there ever was a light house
there, I didn't see a trace.

From Lighthouse Rocks we headed northeast to the Semidi Islands. These are a group of small islands about 30 miles from the Alaska
Peninsula. We met a fog bank on the way, and by the time we got to Aghiyuk Island we had less than 1/4 mile visibility. The chart on
our chart plotter was about 1/3 mile off for the Semidi Islands, too. I think they were trying to trick us into ramming a rock.

There were a lot of murres on Aghiyuk, and some cliffs a few hundred feet tall. We went to the next island south, Kateekuk, and went
out in the dinghy. There were puffins, murres, ducks, guillemots, auklets, seagulls, harbor seals, and lots of strange rock
formations.

We went out into the thick fog again and found our way to Chowiet Island. We went into a couple of coves to anchor, but the water
was too deep too close to shore. We did see a tree, though. Only one on all the islands.

Next, when we were motoring along near Suklik Island, I saw some birds off to the right, standing up in the water. I turned left a
little and was taking their picture when Fullerton said there was something up ahead in the water and told me to turn right. I
figured out that those birds and what he saw must have been a shallow rock, and put the engines in reverse and stopped real quick.
Then I saw that my rock was really a couple of logs in the water -- one for the birds, and one for Fullerton.

Some really cool rocks were sticking up out of the water at Suklik. There were a lot of birds there murres, fulmars, and some etc.

The fog was burning off when we headed for Chirikof Island a few hours away. I slept and Fullerton fished unsuccessfully. We got to
the island about 30 minutes before sunset. We planned to go to shore and check it out.

When I reversed the motors while lowering the anchor (is weighing anchor coming in or going out?), a fish hit on the fishing pole. I
grabbed the pole. It was a big fish. It swam under the boat. The fishing like was wrapped around the prop. We're using the other
engine now. It was too dark by the time we finished the fun-filled anchoring activities, so we headed out to Tugidak Island, just
southwest of Kodiak.

Bird Island, Simeonof, August 1, 2008, by Bob

This morning I woke up to Stars and Stripes. I cannot believe that Fullerton is capable of operating an iPod. We took off in the
dinghy for a motor tour of the area. Across Otter Strait we could see some whale spouts.

The wind had changed directions overnight, and it was not possible to land and stay dry on our side of the island. So we took off in
the boat for the whales. Humpbacks were feeding. Whales are big.

Then we headed to Simeonof Island. We tooled into Simeonof Harbor. The Coast Pilot calls the entrance into Simeonof Harbor
"tortuous." It was shallow with some kelp, but wasn't too bad. We anchored in 14 feet of water and kayaked around. There were sea
otters and lots of jellyfish. Some birds, too. One duck had about 15 ducklings following it.

There is an old house there, half collapsed. Someone used to raise cattle there. There were corrals and some fence remains.

We passed by Koniuji Island, and are now headed on an overnight trip to the Semidi Islands. Last night when I downloaded the
weather, it showed some wind suitable for sailing. Instead, the wind is blowing directly from the Semidi Islands. I downloaded the
weather tonight, and the forecast now matches the wind. And we are motoring.

At 12:36 pm, we are at 55 27N 158 21W. It is 65F inside and 53F outside. Water temperature is 54.1F -- the highest since we hit
Alaska! Wind is 12 knots from the northeast.

Bird Island, Thursday, July 31, 2008, by Bob

We are at Bird Island in the Shumagin Islands, more specifically 54°48.9N 159°44.2W next to Otter Strait. It is 10:35 pm, the Big
Lebowski is on, the temperature outside is 55, inside 69, water temperature 48, wind 9 knots out of the northwest, and we are out of
brownies. Melinda has shirked her responsibilities and took off for Seattle, France, and parts unknown.

I was a little nervous coming into this island. On the charts for this location there is a single sounding of 240 feet for an area
of about 25 square miles. There are no depths shown near shore. The Coast Pilot has this warning: "Many areas adjacent to the
Shumagin Islands are unsurveyed and may present unknown hazards to navigation."

So we came in slowly. We didn't sink, although there is a wrecked schooner in the cove next door. We ended up in a great anchorage,
complete with rocky islands, birds, and alien spacecraft.

There is a bug in the Raymarine chart plotter and the tide prediction for Nagai Island is all messed up. Either that or there is a
daily tsunami here. The tide does change 11 feet here, according to my computer.

This morning we took off and had some weather suitable for sailing -- wind and sunshine both! We made over 10 knots for a couple
hours. Then the wind changed directions, died, came up, died, etc. I put the gennaker in and out 5 times today.

Some humpback whales were jumping out of the water when we go close to Bird Island. One of them breached close to the boat, but he
missed us. Whales are big.