HUNTRESS AND FRIENDS GO TO ALASKA 2026

Friday, May 15, 2026

Anchors Aweigh! It's May 15th and we are off to Alaska again in our new boat HUNTRESS, this time with three other boats, LUCKY DOG (Shannon and David), UNFORGETABELL (Connie and Greg - last name Abell thus the boat name, it's not a spelling error!), and FAR NIENTE (Lorraine and Bill). Many of you are probably aware that I just returned from a nearly month long adventure throughout Europe with my  girlfriends (since kindergarten) from my hometown of Bellingham WA. We returned from Athens on Wednesday 5/13, landed in Seattle at 5PM, home by 6:30PM, which was 4:30AM Athens time, and I did not sleep on the plane. I hastily unpacked my suitcase and put everything away, and packed up a few bags to take to the boat. John and I grabbed some dinner and caught up, then I crashed - hard.  Although I had completely prepped for this boat trip before I left for Europe, yesterday (May 14) was still a flurry of activity as I had to catch up on my grooming (hair, brows, toes appointments) so I don't scare my travel companions. Fit in a last minute visit with the grandkids, did a little grocery shopping for fresh items, and then off to the boat to spend the night to facilitate an early departure in the morning. We left the dock at around 6:30AM this morning and made our way to the locks, where we had a very short wait for our turn. UnforgetAbell and Far Niente were on the same path with us and they were only running the small locks so each of us had to wait a cycle to get through. The weather outside was a bit skunky, windy and rainy, as we cruised up through Deception Pass and on to Reid Harbor at Stuart Island where we all threw down anchors around 6PM. John and I hosted dinner on our boat and also provided transportation (we call it Boober, "Boat Uber") to our boat, since we tow a tender  and everyone else's tenders were topside. We had a lively kick off dinner with homemade margaritas by Lorraine (she makes the best scratch margaritas ever) and burger night with yummy burgers from Fischer Meats in Issaquah. As I said, I provisioned this boat before we left so our freezer is full of vacuum sealed meats and other food. Once we get to Canada then we can provision with fruits and vegetables and all the fresh items we are not supposed to take across the border. It was a rather early night because everyone was worn out - Shannon and David had spent the previous night at Shilshole Marina where the sea lions have completely taken over the docks in the inner harbor. They barked all night and will also chase you if you get near them! I still had jet lag and hit the wall, Connie also had no sleep the night before, so we were the sleepwalking group! Was so nice to climb into our new flannel sheets, all cozy. I have no pictures from today, but will catch up in the coming days.