For two weeks in May, 2002 Karen and Alan joined the
Sailing Vessel “Illywhacker” owned by
Australian friends Peter and Lyndall Aston in Cordova, Alaska. The Astons
have been living aboard Illywhacker or its predecessor the “Dulcinea” most of
the past 20 years, circling the globe more or less twice, and overwintered
twice in Cordova. The Robinsons and
Astons first met in 1981 in a remote bay in Komodo National Park in Indonesia,
and have been in touch ever since.
During this visit, we enjoyed the beautiful peace and quiet of Cordova
Harbor, broken only by the excitement of the opening of the 2002 Copper River
Salmon fishery (and parties every other evening amongst the ersatz Prince
William Sound Yacht Club members!) For 6 days we cruised the Sound, a
world-class destination for cruisers as well as an incredibly productive
fishery (and site of the Exxon Valdez oil spill more than a decade ago). Tide water glaciers like the huge Columbia,
remote and sheltered bays, waterfalls, bear, moose, Dall sheep, and one the
world’s most impressive aggregations of shore birds in the mouth of the
mighty Copper River make Prince William Sound one of the most special places
we have ever visited. It was a real
privilege to have Peter and Lyndall share some of their favorite anchorages
(and friends) before they began their southward summer voyage to British
Columbia.
