Alaska 2016 | Day 71 | Sawmill Bay

Windy today! I’d known that wind was in the forecast, but when I woke up it was totally calm in Sawmill Bay. Calm enough (and not rainy for a few minutes) for me to fly the drone and get pictures of the uncharted shoal.

Calm morning in Sawmill Bay

Aerial of Sawmill Bay. The uncharted shoal is in the middle of the photo, ahead of the boat on the left.

Aerial of Sawmill Bay. The uncharted shoal is in the lower right

Kevin and Laura were supposed to pick up their friends in Gustavus today and then return to Excursion Inlet, but their flights got screwed up. So both Airship and Safe Harbour stayed in Sawmill Bay for an extra day. Good thing, too, since it was apparently pretty rough out on Icy Strait.

After breakfast we took Airship out fishing. No catching, unfortunately. As we trolled south in Excursion Inlet the wind and waves picked up. When we passed the public dock the smaller boats were rolling around quite a bit. We saw gusts as high as 27 knots.

By the time we got back to Sawmill Bay the wind had made it all the way to the head of Excursion Inlet. White capped waves rolled north and wrapped around to where I had anchored. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t ideal either.

After the fishing trip Airship rafted to Safe Harbour. I was anchored on a steep slope—the depth ranged from about 90 feet to 140 feet as we swung 180 degrees—with slightly less than 3:1 scope. The bottom was rocky and the wind was blowing 15-20 knots.  And the Rocna anchor still held. Impressive!