Craig, Alaska

*Before we left Craig we heard about a local artist that works with Alaska Stones and creates amazing creations. We called and he (Gary) happened to be at the studio and agreed to let us come see his work. When we got there we noticed immediately how talented he was, and then we saw a book that we had bought a few days earlier. He asked me how I liked the writing in the book and I told him we had only read one story about a sailboat getting stuck in Rocky Pass and how we had just come through Rocky Pass. I was busy looking around and Gary continued to ask me questions about the book and Mike was laughing. (While I was looking, Gary showed Mike the book and pointed to the author's name.) Come to find out - the artist, Gary, is the same person, he not only wrote the book, but he also had the sailboat adventure. He was actually in Rocky Pass to look for some rare rocks. We got some beautiful things at his studio and if you ever go to Craig, Alaska you must go and see his work. We also found out that he lives part of the year near Bellingham - it really is a very small world.


Sunday, July 26 - We are back on the boat and it must be at least 70 degrees. The sky is blue and we are heading south. We have a short stretch of water to go through called the Tlevak Narrows. We are getting pretty good at this type of navigation and Mike has figured out the best time to go through...well we thought. Come to find out the current that was supposed to run through at about 2.5 knots was actually running 6.5 plus. The Mood Indigo usually travels around 6.5-7.0 knots. We were only traveling about .2 knots - that is almost standing still as the water rushes past and the whirlpools whirl. I was down below when Mike called to me and ask me to put on my life vest. Not a good sign! I joined Mike outside and we were not going anywhere fast, but he kept with it and slowly we came out of the narrows. Yikes! I think we will head for big open water tomorrow!