Day 9 (Saturday, June 21) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

This morning we passed within about a mile of Lisianski Island about 6:30a (Hawaii time). In this part of the Pacific the sun comes up around 7:15a. So it was in morning twilight that we saw the 380-acre, flat, scrubby, shrubby island. No trees. Like the other islands in this area, it was swarming with sea birds. The birds eat seafood so they don’t compete for food in the islands, only for space (nesting space mainly, I think).

Lisianski Island was named after Mr. Lisianski.

Lisianski was a Russian ship captain that was taking furs from Sitka, Alaska to Russia when his ship surprisingly ran aground the reef of this uncharted island. They got away by dumping heavy stuff from the boat and then a storm came through and pushed them onto the reef again. This time they dumped even more stuff and got away again. It was much more perilous than my description makes it sound.

He wrote a book about his voyages around the world in the early 1803-1807. I have to say that he had a very realistic and positive attitude about things. That differs from some of the European captain’s accounts, which seem to be ominous and maybe too dramatic for my taste.

Daily Cuisine:

Before today’s island passing I was suffering from “grease deprivation.” This condition had been worsening day-by-day. Bacon and fried eggs not only hit the spot, but also temporarily cured my ailment. Melinda made chocolate cake and some vanilla pudding. Mmmm.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is still not allowed in this national monument.

Arts and Entertainment:

This morning I started to watch five or six movies from our stocks, each one new to me. None of them lasted more than a few minutes before I had to pull the plug. There might be a reason I had never heard of them. Eventually I got to one I had seen before: Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I liked it again while I cooked and ate my grease-laden breakfast.