Breaking the Ice

Diana Simon

The City of Seward Marina, our home until next spring, lies at the head of Alaska's Resurrection Sound. For more photos, click here.

We are not exactly breaking new ground here by living onboard a small yacht through the deep and dark Alaskan winter. In fact I have met two people who did it once. True, when talking about that experience they got that 1000-yard stare of a returning veteran. But when they came back to the present they did offer some useful advice: "Leave" one advised. "Hawaii is good."

The other cautioned, "Get studs for your boots or you will be blown off the jetty. We lost one like that."

Well, Diana has always said that one day she would like to own a pair of spike heels.

I told them, "I looked forward to sharing the quiet marina with some Alaskan wildlife."

"Oh, you'll share it all right. The otters will make a nest right in your cockpit." (The tone suggested that otters charge when wounded.) "And the eagles will take your cat right off the boat. Did I mention the problems with the ravens?"

As for the depth and duration of the snow, the Roger Henry was buried by October 4. I asked a saleswoman at one of the few stores that stay open through the winter if that wasn't a little early.

"Oh yes, that's way early!" she assured me. "We normally don't get snow like this until the 20th."