Father's Day Mission 2007 - Part 4: Fog in the Pass

This is beginning to feel like POTC3. Will it ever end?

That's about how I was feeling in Akutan too. The next morning, we woke up to beautiful sun and blue sky weather. I was encouraged! I went for the first update....."doubt it." What? It turns out a north wind was prevailing. The plane doesn't land when it's a north wind. This may seem silly, until you learn that the last time it tried to land in a north wind, it skidded over to the edge of the mountain and lost a pontoon. So, they instituted a new policy of not landing with a north wind. It was currently about 9:00 AM. Next update at 11:00....."doubt it. But update at 1:00." It's 1:00, "doubt it. But update at 2:30." It's 3:oo (I tried to hold out a bit)....."doubt it. But update at 4:30." Hmmm....it's 4:30. "Yep, they cancelled. Try again tomorrow. Update at 9:00."

I've been stranded by weather before, but never with sun and blue sky around, so I had to document it.



The following morning, I woke up again to some beautiful looking blue sky. I had learned how to spot the dreaded north wind, and we were looking good...In fact, the water looked almost like glass. Optimistically, I headed for the update. The agent was enjoying a morning cup of coffee at the local restaurant. I started off positive, "Beautiful day, eh?" "Yeah, beautiful. Update at 11:00." "Not today, either?" I pondered hesitantly. "Doubt it....fog in the pass." Fog in the pass??

Now, the way the update happens in small towns like these, is that somebody (either the agent or the store or the public safety officer) calls for the update and then it spreads like wildfire throughout the town. By this time, as you can imagine, the whole town knew who I was and that I was waiting for a plane. So as I would walk through the town, each person would stop me and our conversation would be something to the effect of...."Beautiful day!" "Yeah, beautiful! Fog in the pass, huh..." Over and over....Fog in the pass, Fog in the pass...what the heck does fog in the pass mean?

Reportedly, the pilot has to always be able to see the water in case the plane needs to land, so when there is low lying fog, they can't fly over it. At least that's the explanation I got from one person.

What should we do? Probably shouldn't hang around the store too long!


Actually, I don't think that rule applies when you have a cute smiling baby in tow, because we were quite welcomed at the store. But we mostly enjoyed ourselves on the playground while we waited for the fog in the pass to clear.

Let's just hope the fog in the pass doesn't clear and then the north wind kicks up. Or maybe the clouds return to Akutan....or perhaps it gets foggy in Dutch. The combination of factors that have to align for that plane to make it is incredible.

I had just about given up hope for the day at 4:00 when there was just one more update and the bad weather was starting to return to Akutan...when lo and behold.....

A goose!



I'm not sure it was worth a 4 day wait, but if you ever have the chance to ride in a goose, it's pretty darn cool. You're up on the cement and then taxi down into the water with a definite sinking feeling as the plane submerges into the water. Then a taxi across the water with the pontoons dragging and kicking up water...even Boo was looking out the window with a big smile and pointing at the water.

On a side note, this erratic service into Akutan is only expected to continue for about another year. The gooses are near retirement age (WWII was a while ago afterall) and there are plans to build an airstrip on a neighboring island and then use a hovercraft to ferry passengers over to the airstrip. We thought this seemed like an awful lot of money and work when we first heard about it, but on second thought....it just might be a good idea!

On a second side note, another good thing that came out of this trip was the basic re-affirmation of our packing light philosophy, even with a baby. We were gone for 5 days with only one small backpack between the three of us, and we survived just fine. Of course, on day 4 I did have to buy some $20 diapers, but it was still quite successful, even without the indispensable items on this packing checklist. You may wonder how one would even get out the door with all those items! Although an inflatable baby bath tub will probably never make it on our packing list, I think I will bring a spare pair of underwear next time....