My first voyage up the Inside Passage to Alaska was aboard a Coast Guard Buoy Tender in 1977. We were on a mission, there was no stopping. Still, my imagination was captivated by the coves and channels on the charts. The names were so wonderful and compelling and they tickled my sense of adventure, as we weaved our way past and through them There were places like Point No Point, Juan de Fuca, Seymour Narrows, Hecate Straight, Revillagigedo Island, Wrangle Narrows, and Icy Straits. On the large scale charts were even greater detail of the passage coves and fjords, places like God’s Pocket, Elfin Cove and the Sumdum Glacier. Thus began the years long yearning to sail my own vessel north, a vessel that would fit into those pristine places seldom cut by bowwake. I just wanted to go there.
Years were passed. Oceans were crossed. Boats were bought and sold. Other adventures were had. My Coast Guard career was completed and my Merchant Mariner career began.
I was a tree climber when I was a boy. The trunk was my mast, the branches my yardarms, the imagination my ocean. I was about seven when first envisioning myself captain of a mighty sailing ship off to see the world. Ah,but a dream is a mere fantasy without action. In ’07 I shipped aboard the Brig LADY WASHINGTON as mate and in ’11 I came aback to her as Captain. Never mind I was 65 when it happened and never mind I was 66 when setting sail for the Inside Passage voyage. Age opens opportunity youth seldom can. And so it was I set sail for Glacier Bay in the year 2012
