I climbed out of my warm and cozy bed with a little gift from yesterday night. It was 10 am already but I didn’t feel like getting up. I only had 3 beer -honestly- but I guess these 3, together with maybe a little lack of sleep over the last weeks made me hungover. I needed to check in with the harbormasters office and didn’t want them to wait until afternoon so I forced myself up. The cabin was hot. I fired up the heater before I went to bed, it felt great. I boiled some water, threw a couple teabags in it and got dressed. I never ever in my whole life went to something or somewhere with a cup of tea in my hand but I felt like taking it with me.

I walked along the wooden pier, it is quite wide compared to the standard marinas, got the full smell of decades of fishing and old diesel engines and sipped on my way to hot tea. I got my map with the ship documents under the left arm when I opened the door to the harbormasters office. “Good morning, Christian” a warm and friendly female voice entered my ears. There were 3 women working there and I tried to figure out who was talking to me. I was surprised that they know my name but what followed surprised me even more. All three ladies stood up and with the words:” This is not from the state this is from us..” handed me a little present, wrapped in an old newspaper and labeled with german phraseslike” Land in Sicht” Mann über Bord” Willkommen in Kodiak” “Spend us a drink” “We like dark rum”

The spelling was absolutely correct and I, totally overwhelmed, replied something like Thank you, You speak German? I didn’t know what happened right now, thought about a hidden camera or something like this.

Attached to the bottle of dark rum was the application form for the slip. Except the fields for personal information like phone nr., surname etc it was prefilled with all the information Judy, Jimmie and Nicole could find on our website. Astonishing!

We chatted and slowly I figured out why all this was happening to me. Because Tim helped me secure the lines yesterday and fell into the water I was known like a colored bird in a black and white movie. It doesn’t happen too often and the girls obviously made some fun about it. It was the most friendly and heartily welcome I ever experienced in a harbormasters office. We finished paperwork and I payed for 2 days in advance.They even connected me to the customs office in Anchorage and I asked what I have to do to proper check in and apply for another cruising permit. Mine expired the day I left Honolulu. Everything was easy and i can do it either online or in Anchorage once I’ll be there. No sweat!

Judy offered me a ride to the grocery store and half an hour later I pushed my shopping cart through the aisles of a huge Safeway. This was all too easy. I didn’t even had the chance to worry about where to go, how far to walk, public transportation etc.. I felt like Scotty beamed me up I didn’t had to worry about anything. In that mood I started walking towards the harbor, which was about 3km away and tried to bum a ride. Patty picked me up, she was on her way to work and dropped me off at the harbor. Life is good to me today.

But like everything in life needs a balance, like Ying & Yang, there were sad news waiting for me when I came back to the boat and said hello to LK. He passed away.

I cant say if it was the cold, from starving or any special lizard disease. I caught a couple flies for him the last days and he started peeling of his skin so I thought he was good but unfortunately he wasn’t. I’m going to find him a nice place for his last rest when I’m out of town, soon. Rest in peace my little friend.

Some “sailors” told me horrible stories about the authorities or the fishermen here. “Don’t check in, the authorities don’t like sailors”. “Be careful with the fishermen, they are brutal and don’t care about anything else than their catch” etc.. Complete BULLSHIT!

Any person I met so far was very friendly and interested in my sailing, offered me help in any kind if I ever need it and welcomed me to his beautiful country.

THANK YOU for proving them wrong!!

The overwhelmed captain

 

I finally managed to add some pictures you are waiting for so long.. enjoy!

offshore sunset

Aloha Alaska

Landfall, entering Sitkalidak Straight

time for a new national flag

Old Harbor

Church Old Harbor

Sitkalidak Passage