After circumnavigating the Pacific Ocean on their 2004 Selene 53 Mystic Moon, John and Kathy Youngblood have spent the past two months in Sitka, Alaska. And the title of their latest blog says it all: “Captain’s Log: Freezing in Sitka.”
The Youngbloods have been cruising on Mystic Moon, usually at 7 or 8 knots, since the spring of 2005. Starting in Seattle, they’ve gone to Alaska, Mexico, Colombia, the Caribbean, the South Pacific, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Japan. They finished their six-year, 35,000-nm circumnavigation of the Pacific last fall when they reached the Aleutians, and then continued down to spend the winter in Sitka.
And Sitka is cold. They report that “winter is here in Sitka,” with 12-degree weather and the wind chill down to zero. They had a frozen hot-water hose. “The curious thing,” they wrote on their blog, “is no ice in the harbor. Maybe the 5-10 knot north wind and slight swell is keeping the water stirred up.” (See the pictures above.)
The contrast between where they are, and where they’ve been, is striking. “So why is this so amazing to us,” they wrote. “Well, last year at this time we were in 90-degree temperatures in Malaysia, Borneo, then Philippines. Shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops with the air-con running at now. Now it’s everything on we own.”
The Youngbloods will head south this spring, but for now, even though they’re cold, they’re happy where they are. “We think Sitka is a very beautiful town,” Kathy wrote me, “with wonderful scenery every time you turn the corner, and the people are welcoming and kind. As John said, we may well be back up here in the next few years and have our names on the (multi-year) waiting list for a permanent slip. We shall see!” Read more:
