Outdoors

A sailboat that left Juneau in mid-May is high and dry on Akutan Island in the Aleutians. Her sailor apparently is trying to raise money to finish his trip.

The Cesura grounded sometime on June 22, and was found by the M/V Pacific Star on the east side of Sarana Bay. John Seville is captain of the Pacific Star, a 163-foot research vessel:

“And we seen this fire on the beach and a sailboat and this guy waving a flag, so we got a hold of him on Channel 16 and talked with him and he was fine as far as his health. He said just he fell asleep and the boat went aground. And it was high and dry, sittin’ straight up and down on its keel, pointin’ out toward the water,” Seville said.

The Cesura’s operator is Rimas Meleshyus, a Russian immigrant, who was living in Juneau when he decided to sail around the world.

Seville said his crew took Meleshyus batteries and food.

“What we did was haul his anchor out offshore for him and we planted that, and hopefully on a high tide he could pull himself off the beach,” he said.

Seville also reported the Cesura’s grounding to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Petty Officer Grant DeVuyst says a Coast Guard helicopter out of Cold Bay took Meleshyus to Dutch Harbor. He says there was no pollution and the boat was safe, so Meleshyus would be responsible for getting the boat off the island himself.

“The vessel is actually still on the island where it ran aground,” DeVuyst said. “He’s going to have to rely on commercial services to actually get it salvaged.”

Meleshyus has claimed to have escaped the Soviet Union in 1988 when he fled to the American Embassy in Moscow to seek political asylum. He has lived in various parts of the U.S. It’s unclear how long he had been in Juneau when he decided to sail around the world and started to raise funds for the trip.

He was headed to Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East when he went aground.

When the Pacific Star’s Captain Seville heard Meleshyus claimed Juneau as home, he called KTOO with the story. He said it was clear Meleshyus planned to hang out in Dutch Harbor for a while before refloating his sailboat.

“He obviously doesn’t have a whole lot of money to do it and he’s just looking for donations as he’s going,” Seville said.

No word from Meleshyus on when he plans to start on the next leg of his trip.

View Stranded sailboat in a larger map

There’s a rare guest in the Mendenhall Lake this week.

A seal was spotted Friday morning, cruising between the icebergs in the lake.

“It’s an interesting phenomenon that every once in a while we have one or possibly two seals,” Laurie Craig said. Craig is the lead naturalist for the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center.

While the lake is about 6 miles from seawater, Craig said the presence of seals indicates that the fish are coming.

“We don’t expect sockeye until normally the third week of July, but this year who knows,” Craig said.

There have been two other sightings so far this year with one in May and the other in June.

Gail Blundell thinks it’s most likely a juvenile harbor seal.

Blundell is a Wildlife Biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game. She heads up the statewide Harbor Seal Research Program.

“It’s not surprising,  they do swim up rivers and they follow food,” Blundell said.

While it’s not clear how long the seal has been in the lake, it won’t likely be there long.

“My guess is this one will just be there temporarily and will find that there’s nothing worth being up there for and will turn around and head back,” Blundell said.

 

A Juneau eagle lost his lunch Friday morning, cutting electricity to 377 Lemon Creek Alaska Electric Light and Power customers.

Company spokeswoman Deb Ferreira described the event:

“A large eagle was flying over Lemon Creek and in its talons was a 6-inch black rope with some fish parts attached to one end. It flew a little too close to our lines and the rope and the fish connected with two phases of our line. It caused two bright pops like Fourth of July, and it caused Lemon Creek two (feeder) to open,” she said.

She said the eagle was fine.

“It flew over to a tree a few feet away from the line and watched carefully wondering how it was going to get its lunch back,” Ferreira said.

An AEL&P crew took the fishy rope off the line and power was restored in 3 minutes and 16 seconds, she said.

While several witnessed the event, it happened so fast that no one got a picture of the eagle’s lunch hitting the power line. AEL&P is located near the Juneau landfill, which attracts a lot of eagles and other scavengers.

Water levels are now receding from this week’s jökulhlaup in Suicide Basin above Mendenhall Glacier.

Brian Bezenek of the National Weather Service office in Juneau said both Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River crested a little after midnight Friday morning.

Mendenhall Lake peaked at 8.36 feet and Mendenhall River crested at 9.98 feet.

Bezenek said there was less water from the jökulhlaup they had anticipated. Both the lake and river crested well short of earlier forecasts.

“This one is much less than what last year’s (glacial outburst) was by about a couple of feet,” said Bezenek.

He said they had not heard of any damage or injuries.

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Master Gardener Ed Buyarski has some tips for maximizing your garlic yield this season and differentiates between hardneck and softneck garlic.

Yesterday a glacial lake on the Mendenhall Glacier broke free and the waters are rising in Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River.

The National Weather Service has instituted a flood watch throughout today and Friday.

As of 4 a.m. Mendenhall Lake was at 6.2 feet. The lake is expected to crest at 9.5 feet on Thursday night. Flood stage for the lake is 9 feet.

Mendenhall River was at 9.16 feet this morning and is expected to crest near flood stage at 11.5 feet on Thursday night.

“If the river level gets to those levels that means View Drive, the houses on it, may see some minor flooding,” said Richard Lam of the National Weather Service Juneau office.

“The Mendenhall Lake Spur Road between Skater’s Cabin and the West Glacier Trail, that section may be under water if the lake level gets to what we forecast it for. So some minor flooding along Mendenhall Lake Spur Road,” Lam said.

The Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center is taking precautions, warning hikers and kayakers to be aware of their surroundings, and not get too close to icebergs or the glacier.

“We will be on alert for public safety at the visitor center and other areas such as the Mendenhall Campground. We will monitor conditions at the lake as best we can by observing the glacier and icebergs. The National Weather Service has been keeping us informed,” said Laurie Craig, lead naturalist for the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center.

“There was a series of large calving events on Tuesday, July 3 around 5:00 a.m. Today the lake is filled with icebergs including some huge pieces that are noticeably moving around the lake,” Craig said.

“Water is draining rapidly from the right side ice cave but no waterfall is visible, which we were able to observe last year,” Craig said.

Last year a similar event happened when a glacier lake burst in Suicide Basin. Water had built up and released over a four-day period from July 19-22, according to information from the University of Alaska Southeast.

The glacial lake was located in Suicide Basin which is approximately  2 miles up the Mendenhall Glacier’s east side. The event is actual called a Jökulhlaup (Yo-ko-laup) which is an Icelandic term for the glacial outburst flood.

For photos of last year’s event check out this gallery by Eran Hood, Associate Professor of Enviornmental Science, Department Chair at UAS.