Second vessel turned away from Northwest Passage
by Daria Blackwell 19 Aug 2020 01:55 UTC
Northwest Passage © Daria Blackwell
Originally reported by the Arctic Sounder on the 17th of August, the vessel was denied entry to Canadian waters by Canadian officials.
A 60-foot schooner carrying five American passengers and two dogs set sail from Port Townsend, Washington in May. They made stops in Sitka, Homer, Kodiak, St.Paul and Nome for food and fuel along the way. In St. Paul, the community did not allow them to disembark from the boat for fear of coronavirus infection.
They next anchored in Utqiagvik, Alaska, where the Arctic Sounder learned that the crew was heading east to Greenland via the Northwest Passage and then on to Maine. Those aboard came bearing negative COVID test results from their stop in Nome two weeks prior.
Canada sealed its borders to American tourists in March to protect against the coronavirus and has not yet opened them. In June, Canada prohibited recreational boating in the Canadian Arctic through October 2020, according to the government website.
Four days after departing Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), the vessel was officially denied entry into Canadian waters. The crew is now retracing their steps back through the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands and returning to Seattle.
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