I've been wanting a butter bell for the boat, and found this cool one made by Red Wing Stoneware in Minnesota:
Red Wing Stoneware Co. butter bell ($35) from Duluth Pack. Butter goes in the part on the right, water goes in the part on the left, and when put together the water creates an airtight seal on the butter so it stays fresh and soft (and I don't have to keep it in the fridge on the boat, which is nice, since the fridge is small).
I picked up some of these cloth napkins for the boat (from Clear Sky Home on Etsy) … planning to use less paper products while cruising (especially cruising in more remote areas, since it's tougher to get rid of trash as often).
They don't match our plates at all, but who cares? How cute are these?
(I got these yellow ones too, which really don't match our plates. I'm thinking they might clash enough to totally work together.)
Kevin and I each got ourselves a pair of Xtratufs (also called Alaskan sneakers, Alaskan slippers, Sitka slippers, etc.). These will come in super handy in the wet Southeast AK weather and when getting in and out of the dinghy and exploring (also when fishing and oystering here at home in the Pacific Northwest). They're completely waterproof and highly recommended by Alaskans everywhere:
And last but not least, we ordered a new tandem kayak for Airship. We looked at several, and our original plan after seeing them at the Seattle Boat show was to go with the Airis Tandem by Walker Bay, but after a bunch of research, we ended up going with the Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track. It packs down remarkably small for a tandem kayak (good for carrying on the boat), is very quick to set up (also important), and has great reviews. We'll let you know after we've used it a bit.
Our "Get Ready/To Do List for Alaska" is pretty standard at this point (we've done a ton already, including boat maintenance and some extra safety provisioning). From now until when we leave in May, it's all about stuff like procuring a couple more spare parts we want to have with us, getting extra Nespresso pods and Sodastream fizzers, oil and filters for a couple oil changes, miscellaneous extra tools, a Costco run, updating the Garmin charts to the latest greatest, getting some fishing gear and maybe another crab trap, more Merino wool socks, etc.
It was exciting planning our Alaska meet up with Tiffani and Deke with them while we were visiting in North Carolina this past week. Their plan is to meet us in Juneau mid/late June and then travel with us down to Petersburg, with proposed stops at Taku Harbor, Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier, Petersburg, LeConte Glacier, Thomas Bay, Pybus Bay, several spots on Baranof Island (including the warm springs), and then heading around to Sitka where we plan to spend the 4th of July. They'll fly home from Sitka, and we'll continue on south.
We leave in just over a month–it's so close (and yet so far…650+ nautical miles from Anacortes to Ketchikan, and then most people do another 1000+ nm in SE Alaska. Sam and Mark said most people go at least 2300 nm on a trip like this, and that it’s easy to go 3500 nm). We're SO excited!
VERY cool! But as someone who also works from an RV, my question is: What are you doing for internet connectivity. I’ve read about your Moovbox … will that work? Do you need a Canadian data plan while you motor up through British Columbia?
Hi Rod,
The Moovbox will definitely work for some of it. The question is … how much? We got a T-mobile unlimited data plan for one SIM card – that also supposedly includes data roaming in Mexico and Canada. On our brief trip to Canada before, it seemed to work. We also got a Canada/Mexico data plan for our Verizon SIM card that is basically $10 per 100MB. Not cheap, but way cheaper than the alternatives we found. We’ll have both of those, as well as an AT&T card loaded into the Moovbox. So, anyplace that the Moovbox can get Verizon, T-mobile, or AT&T or their Canada partners, we should have internet. Plus, some marinas have WiFi. Finally, we have a very good team that can cover for us if we’re out of touch for a few days at a time here and there.
Really, though, we have no idea. We’ll report back.
Or, if you don’t hear from us for awhile… you’ll probably know what the deal is.
We’ve had good luck with T-Mobile’s unlimited worldwide data over the last year and a half, using it throughout Ontario & Quebec as well as in Amsterdam, Reykjavik, Rome, and Bologna (and points between).
It used to be super fast when it was first introduced (before their international partners started actually doing the advertised throttling), but now it can be pretty slow unless you pay to upgrade the speeds (we haven’t bothered yet, but they haven’t been working trips either — ymmv).
Hi Kevin and Laura!
I have enjoyed reading your blog. Keep up the good work. Your Alaska trip will be lots of fun. Hope to see you along the way. I will be co-Captain for a buddy of mine who is a delivery skipper. We leave Seattle on June 10th and need to have the boat in Sitka by June18th. Long days in a 10kt boat. Our vessel is named “Inside Passage” a 70′ custom Cooper/Queenship. If you see us anchored, give a call and stop by for a drink!
Travel safe :))
HI Steve! Thank you, and we’ll keep a lookout for you guys! We’ll be leaving Ketchikan around June 13 and heading to Juneau to meet some friends arriving on June 20th. After that, we’ll be cruising around between Juneau and Sitka until July 3 or so. Are you guys on AIS? It’d be fun to meet up!
Whoa, that really puts it in perspective. I am psyched about your trip and can’t wait to follow along!
Thanks Joanne! We are too! 🙂
That’s going to be a fantastic trip. Best of luck to you and Kevin!
Here’s a plug for your blog Laura: My wife and I have enjoyed reading your blog since you got Airship, and your great descriptions and photos have played a big role in our decision to accelerate our own cruising plans. Last week, we closed on a NT37! We live in NC, but have cruised the southeast ICW for 15 years in a much smaller 30′ express cruiser, with Charleston, SC as our homeport. We’ll cruise the NT on the East coast for several years, but have big plans to truck it or cruise it to the PNW to join our daughter and her family who live in Portland. So, we will be watching with great interest as you and Kevin head north to Alaska. By the way, you might want to check out my wife’s Pinterest page (“Our Tug”)–you’ll recognize some of the things as your own ideas that we plan to use on our own Nordic Tug, Egret. Thanks for all the work you do on the blog–maybe we’ll meet up one day. –Sadler
broker pic of boat (name will change):
Sadler and Beth! Congratulations on your NT37!! – and thank you so much for your note. I’m flattered, and we’re so happy to help accelerate your cruising plans! 🙂 We are just in love with this boating thing. I can’t believe we didn’t think of it sooner.
Definitely keep in touch, and we’d love to meet you guys when you get to Portland and the PNW. And thanks for the Pinterest tip…I’m following along with you guys too now!
Looks so large an area, and it is, but a mercator map would render that area a little more to scale. I see you are cruising west from Port Townsend now, wonder what your next blog entry will reveal?