Today on the Vixen: The weather forecast was grim, but we gritted our teeth and decided to check out the Sound. The Vixen loaded up and left Cordova at around 11:30am. Aboard was Carter Ohlman and Jim Pettigrew, from University of California, Santa Barbara, Leslie Abramson, from the Prince William Sound Science Center and Captain Dave Rentel of the Vixen. Initially, the conditions seemed pretty good, but this was misleading as we were heading downwind (basically surfing and going the same direction as the wind and waves). We were able to deploy one round of drifters, though it was rough and wet. Then we turned around and headed north for the second deployment. Ugh! Heading into the wind was too much for us, the waves were as tall as the Vixen! Things started getting a bit crazy, so we decided to stay safe and head for cover. We ran in to Naked Island, our rendezvous point with the Auklet and spent the rest of the afternoon tracking the drifters we had deployed.
Now we are rafted with the Auklet, warm, dry and happy. We had Copper River Red salmon for dinner, with pesto pasta and broccoli. And, of course, Captain David Janka finished off with ice cream. We heard that the Alena K had some troubles with the glider and ended up missing their weather window, as conditions worsened throughout the day. They will sleep in their beds tonight in Cordova. We hope we see them tomorrow or Wednesday, but with gale warnings forecasted for tomorrow, we may not see them until later in the week.
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