When Madrone sailed to Alaska a few years ago, it felt very remote. We would see a handful of commercial fishing boats each day, and we’d even sometimes share an anchorage with another cruising boat, especially if we stayed in the major channels.
Patagonia makes Alaska seem like a bustling metropolis. We haven’t seen another pleasure boat of any kind between Valdivia and Puerto Eden – about 500 miles of fantastic cruising ground. Every anchorage has been empty, except of course for the penguins, sea lions, cormorants, and cara cara, a local osprey-like bird.
We’ve passed the regularly scheduled Navimag ferry twice so far, once on its way south and once on its return, and we’ve seen a couple of small freighters that are traveling in the channels to escape the conditions on the open ocean outside.
Aside from those, we are all alone. Good thing we like the solitude!
