Yeva in the Pribilofs

 

Ella Hibbert left Nome with the stated intention of taking the Yeva to either Kodiak or Homer, Alaska to dry dock the ship over the winter before resuming her circumnavigation of the Arctic Ocean. I don't know if her plans have changed, however, as she's tacked considerably to the west and instead sailed to the tiny Pribilof island of St. Paul (population, 413). From the map, it looks like it has a pretty good harbor, and maybe even the capability of hoisting the Yeva to dry storage. There's an air strip, but St. Paul can't be as easy to leave or to access as, say, Kodiak or Homer (not that they're exactly a breeze to get to either).

Meanwhile, some 650 miles to the east, Tamara Klink is sailing the Sardinha 2 through the channel between Kodiak Island and the Aleutian mainland, water she says has a "bad reputation." She's battling foul weather and strong winds as she heads for Homer (hurray!), and from the sounds of her recent posts, that may be the end of her sailing for a while. Friendly reminder that other than a brief passport stop at Nome, she's been at sea since leaving Tuk back on August 31, and before sailing the Northwest Passage this season (the first Brazilian woman to do that solo), she spent all of last winter in the Sardinha in northern Greenland.

So, if Ella is indeed dry docking the Yeva in St. Paul and if Tamara finishes her epic odyssey in Homer, that may be it for this season's Arctic adventures.

Update: In a video log, Ella explained that she diverted to St. Paul to avoid a weather system in the eastern Bering Sea and that she will wait there a few days until the weather clears. The system is probably the same one that kicked Tamara around in the Gulf of Alaska. Once things calm down again, Ella will take off for Homer, probably taking frequent shelter as needed as the sailing season ends.