It was still a bit stormy, but there were signs of the storm residing. The wind had calmed to a breezy 35-40 knots. Still quite windy, but better than it had been all week.
At 5 AM, we couldn't sleep. We had packed most of our things, and now we wondered if we would be leaving today. Even Josh, the more common sense one of the two of us at that point, was very ready to leave, even if it was still quite windy.
We went to the ranch house at around 7AM, our nerves really frayed, wondering if we would get to leave that day, or if we'd be stuck on Umnak for who even new how long.
Lonnie seemed to think that we would be alright to fly to Dutch Harbor, despite the winds, so we went back to the cabin, and finished packing. We had to leave several things behind, to try and decrease our weight. Rubber boots, some clothes, and a few of the small artifacts, and keepsakes we had contemplated bringing home, were left behind.
With our luggage crammed tightly into the R44, which was only half filled with fuel to further decrease our weight, our family, together with Lonnie, stuffed ourselves into the helicopter, and took off.
Our hearts were beating franticly. There was still enough of a wind to make the flight treacherous. The sea was still roiling. Every 5-10 miles there was a storm squall over the ocean. It was amazing beautiful, and completely terrifying at the same time. I would have loved to capture a few images from this flight, but I was far too scared, my camera was stuffed away somewhere, and there was not really any room to move one's arms anyway, as I had Brodie on my lap.
We finally made it to Dutch Harbor, after dodging several storm squalls. Josh and I felt so relieved, and happy to have completed the scariest part of the journey. We checked in at the tiny airport, and then went to have a snack at the restaurant. Josh and I hadn't had a beer for a whole month, and our nerves suggested we should have one. Wouldn't you know it, the first beer we go to enjoy after a whole month was skunky. How disappointing.
Oh well. We enjoyed the rest of our snack, went to the airport, said our good-byes to Lonnie, and got ready to leave the Aleutian Islands.
The weather was continuing to improve, and our flight to Anchorage, and then on to Seattle was uneventful.
We arrived in Calgary the next day, everybody unscathed, with a whole lot of stories and adventures to share.
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