Sea Kayaking

The other day at the grocery story, the checkout clerk apologized to me when she found out I lived in town. I guess not everybody values the paved road, mailbox, and proximity to people and things. I understand though that people do not move to Alaska to live in a neighborhood. I see the appeal of settling down in the middle of nature and the middle of nowhere...I just don't want to do it with two small kids. There is a new reality show about a family who lives completely off the land. It would probably be interesting anyway, but they are literally right down the road from us, so I find the show fascniating (Alaska: The Last Frontier on The Discovery Channel)

http://dsc.discovery.com/show-news/alaska-the-last-frontier-premieres-thursday-at-10pm-ep.html

Since I am not a homesteader, but a temporary resident, I have a few things that I would like to see and do while in Alaska. In fact, the more I read and learn, the longer the list grows. Perhaps I will devote an entire page to my Alaska Bucket List later. Within the first 2 weeks, I was surprised I still had not seen a moose, but happy to report I did do some sea kayaking. Here is my list thus far:

• kayak majestic waters without being upended by a whale. (Not sure if this fear is irrational or not, but either way it lives in me.)
• see a moose
• watch a bear eat a salmon out of the river (I might settle for watching a bear lumber along with her cubs)
• catch a fat halibut
• catch a sizable salmon
• experience the northern lights
• learn to cross country ski
• see the start of Iditarod
• hike to a glacier (next post)
• sail among fjords and calving glaciers
• sleep in a yurt
• pan for gold (and find at least a tiny nugget)

I took a sea kayak tour because my kayaking experience is limited to ocean kayaks and warm water. The frigid waters and presence of whales give me pause enough to shell out the money for a guide. Whale sightings in Katchmak Bay, near Homer, still seem to be cause for excitement, so I don't think my whale fear is grounded. The water is cold though, and sea kayaks are much tippier than an ocean kayak, so I was glad for a guide and his advice. We (Christy and I) signed up for the trip with one day's notice because the weather looked good and the ship was in i.e. we were able to pawn off childcare duties on the guys. Christy is an aquaintance from New London and her husband is on the ship too. They transferred here last summer and it was nice to see a familiar face when I arrived. Her knowledge of the area, especially shady rentals and landlords, was invaluable to us.

View of Mount Iliamna from boat ride across Katchemak Bay

Getting ready to launch kayaks from the beach on Yukon Island

The total trip was 6 hours including transportation across the bay to our starting point and lunch. We paddled around Yukon Island, a Maritime Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Actually, the paddling was somewhat minimal. We did a lot of floating and taking in scenery, but that's okay too. We saw several silly sea otters frolicking on their backs, even more giant jelly fish, some bald eagles, a puffin or two, and lots of bull kelp. Since this was my first sight of bull kelp I thought it was cool. I tasted it as I saw others do the in the Alaska videos I rented before coming here. Not bad, and supposedly very nutritious. The weather was high 50s or low 60s and the guides said it was one of the best days they had all year. We had a clear view of the mountian range stretching all the way to Cook Inlet. The range includes three volcanoes (Mounts Redoubt, Augustine and Iliamna).

Huge jellyfish

Playful sea otter

Elephant's rock

One of our guides lives with his dog on a nearby, remote island seven months out of the year and paddles 25 minutes to Yukon Island where he works as a kayak guide. The other was a recent college grad from Michigan who traveled to Alaska in an 80s VW van with friends. They headed the Kenai Penninsula, found Homer and decided to stay awhile. Everyone in Alaska has a story and most of them are interesting. I think I will write a post (or maybe a book) on people we've met and their path to Alaska.

Continuing around the island...

..and spying bald eagles

Posted with Blogsy