Today we crossed the border from Canada back in to the United States heading north. Although our goal is to make it up to Glacier Bay at the top of the SE Alaska panhandle, it feels like a milestone to just make it this far.
View from Dixon Entrance northeast up Portland Inlet – Canada is on the right, and Alaska is on the left
Angie lowers the Canadian courtesy flag we have to fly while in Canadian waters. The tail of the flag is nearly shredded from whipping in the winds – it’s seen better days.
We’ve travelled just over 1100 nautical miles so far this trip, and we’ve likely got another 400 to 500 miles to go before we arrive at Glacier Bay. Our plan is to travel a bit faster on our way north so that we have time for more sightseeing and a more leisurely pace on our way back south. So far, we’re definitely on track with that plan!
When we went to bed last night, the forecast was for headwinds the entire trip. So we were delighted to wake up and find that the forecast model got it exactly wrong – we had winds from astern. That means that we had a nice tailwind for nearly the entire trip. We were able to just raise our headsail and make ~5 knots north.
We still need to head to Ketchikan for formal customs clearance, but we received permission over the phone to stop for the night en route on US soil. That is, our anchor is on US soil…
