July 5-7 - Return Boat Trip from Dutch Harbour to Homer

I'm writing this collection of days as one entry because, quite frankly, these 3 days blended one into the next and memories from this return trip are hard to separate into specific days...

After we left Dutch Harbour, a major front pulled in and we found ourselves in the middle of a fairly significant storm. The fog was thick and low and dark storm clouds swarmed the sky and delivered torrential rain in fits and starts, interspersed with unrelenting drizzle. The ocean kicked up into a frenzie and for about 36 hours, we had 18-20 foot swells. The Tustumena heaved and rolled, bucked and tossed, to'd and fro'd and surged and dipped her way through open water, determined to deliver us safely back into safe harbours down the Chain. Needless to say, most of the passengers on the boat were royally sick. Vomit bags were disappearing from the racks with alarming speed and the once busy dining room was almost abandoned completely except for a few of us die-hards that everyone else shot daggerous looks at. Poor Lynn - he was valiant for so long but finally, he succumbed to the violent motion of the boat that seemed like it would never end.

We had a few hours of reprieve here and there when we pulled into False Pass, King Cove, Sand Point... but then we headed back out in that great roiling mess again for another round of stomach lurching fun. Meaghan, our lovely dining server, told us that many of the crew bunks actually have seatbelts in them to keep you secure while you sleep. We didn't have them in ours but there were a few times, during those couple of treacherous nights, that I wished I'd had one. The heaving of the boat was enough to roll you over in bed and I was on the top bunk! I was afraid I was going to roll right out of it!

FINALLY - by day three of the return trip, we found ourselves in some protected water and the storm had eased off. The waters calmed enough that people started to emerge, pasty-faced and wan but with hopeful looks, tentatively attempting soda crackers and hot tea...

Keven, another dining room server, told us that sometimes, the storms can REALLY get bad (!!) and can last for the entire trip. This is the reason why they only do the Aleutian run during the summer months, before the storm season really kicks into high gear in the Fall. Good grief... For those of you who watch The Deadliest Catch, you can see what THOSE storms look like. Many of those boats fish out of Dutch Harbour and in the wild Bering Sea. Working on those crabbing boats is rated the most dangerous job in the United States. We got a small taste of it during our three day trip back and I can assure you, it's not a job for me...

Major bonus - for those of us who were "brave" enough to do the complete round trip to Dutch Harbour and back,
we were invited up to the Bridge of the Tustumena. There, we met the Captain
and some of the crew. We stayed for about an hour, until all our
questions were answered. Fabulous!

Village of Akutan 

Village of Akutan - Note the white church with the graveyard in the centre.
All of these little villages, no matter how small, have a Russian Orthodox church
going back to early fur trading days in the late 1800s.

Another church (can't remember which village) and, of the only dozen or so buildings in
the village, it was by far the largest. It's right beside the pier.

As we neared Homer mid-day on July 7th, the skies cleared and the sun came out and shone brightly. The ominous, dark, forbidding ocean transformed into an expanse of diamond glitter and suddently, even though we'd just come through 3 teeth-gritting days, we were just a little bit sorry it was over. Throughout the trip, we'd met some great people and forged some new friendships as only one can during the trials and tribulations of a challenging adventure. Emails were exchanged and invitations extended to keep in touch and come and visit. You never know! We may make it to Cape Cod yet! Thanks Judy and Paul for your good humour, great stories and good laughs... Hope to see you some time soon again.

We pulled into Homer at 1:00pm, packed our stuff up and headed back to the Homer Spit Campground. We pulled our bikes and trailer out to our site and set up camp and headed back to the Mermaid for one last bowl of their fabulous fish chowder. Back at camp, we visited with our neighbours who gave us some good tips for campsites on our trip home.... our trip home... yes, starting tomorrow we will be on our way home now. There is always a palpable shift, on our big trips, at a certain moment when we are done with adventuring "out" and we start making our way home. Tonight I felt that shift. Now I'm getting excited to hit the trail tomorrow and start heading back.