Setting Sail /June 3, 2018 by Caroline Van Hemert

Launching soon! In summer of 2018 Caroline, Pat, and their two young children will be heading north from Washington to Alaska in a 32’ sailboat. Stay tuned for updates!

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I’m beyond delighted to share that I’ve found a home for UPWELLINGS, my current book-in-progress! Blending high latitude adventure⛵️, tales of resilience and creativity in the natural world, and inspiration from our wild neighbors so that

We’ve been lucky enough to catch the Bering Sea in a rare good mood! Old friends, new birds, swimming (of course!), and many reminders of home (bull kelp, moon jellies, once-upon-time field sites). Bonus: golden sunsets, silver moonrises, starr

Nome was good to us! Muskox, grandparents, gold dredgers, rainbows, and new friends. Next up: the Bering Sea!

I can see Russia from my window (porthole)! At the entrance to the Bering Strait, Little Diomede (Alaska) and Big Diomede (Russia) are separated by only 2 miles.

As we cross the Arctic Circle again, we toast the unofficial completion of the Northwe

Chukchi Sea magic. Walruses cavorting in the sunshine and a frenzy of shearwaters that went on for miles. (Watch the full video to appreciate the astounding number of birds.)

Day 5 of our passage from Herschel Island to Nome and we’re waiting

Rounding the top of Alaska and celebrating our halfway-around-the-world mark (180+ degrees of longitude since Greece!). We had a spectacular show of thousands of shearwaters grazing the water, Arctic terns circling the mast, and humpback and bowhead

Qikiqtaruk-Herschel Island, where sky and water meet. This was the first familiar view on our Northwest Passage journey. Pat & I stopped here 13 years ago after paddling down the Mackenzie River and hiking & packrafting along the Arctic Coast

What a difference a day makes! In the wake of the storm, which clocked 84 mph at our anchorage and resulted in a storm surge of >5 feet in the Northwest Territories community of Tuktoyatuk. The first photo shows some of the ice that smashed and cr