Friday 17 June 2011

Aialik Bay and Kenai Fjords Alaska kayak trip

 June 10th-16th




Road trip to Seward and to plan our kayaking trip.  With information both from Kate and Jillian who had been in the area previously made this kayak trip sound amazing, one of those once in a life time adventures
our self guided route

Greg, Theresa and I arrived late on Friday afternoon, went and chatted to the folks at Millers Landing and had our safety self rescue session booked for one hour.  Nervous about the process and the brrrr cold Alaskan water we were about to be immersed in.  Jake showed us what to do on land, then it was time for the water. Its hard to describe the feeling of being upside down in the water locked in the kayak and the rush of the cold water.  Its only a split second then you are up, staying calm and composed fitting the float to the paddle then using it as a lever to get safely back in.  Its not easy work, but a vital skill and further incentive to not fall in the water while we are away.

We had one extra day to pack everything and go for a hike to a pretty point and skim some stones.  All the staff were excited for us stating how beautiful the area was.  On the Sunday we were up at 4:15am to be ready for the water taxi that took us out to our starting point at tooth cove.  It’s a two hour ride beautiful itself as we had view of porpoises traveling in our wake, Wales, seals and lots of rough water!
porpoise in our wake


Drop off point meant we were on our own. Only I had been on an overnight kayak trip before but both of the others had lots of white water experience, so between us we would be fine!  We allowed ours selves plenty of time 4 days 3 nights to really soak up the place and not push distances too much.  The pretty coves we paddled into included Coleman Bay where we literally had a humpback whale pop up less than 100m behind us as we paddled silently deep in the cove. Amazing!  The seals are so curious of us, they pop up watch you then disappear only to find they are actually following as you paddle along.  Our first night was at Abra Cove, which overlooks the Aialik glacier and we had the place to ourselves.  The loud thunderous boom combined with the rushing waterfall meant it was an natural sound boom.  We had a fire that night and started off the daily dessert feast of smores.  We couldn’t see the ice calving into the water from here but we could certainly hear it all night, a unique sound, combined thunderous with a loud roar of power, a special place to sleep that’s for sure.
Me kayaking under a waterfall for fun

Puffin

waking up to this view wow
Seal chilling out on the iceberg
 Day two and we set off to explore Aialik glacier. The month of June is always the hardest month of the year for me and the 13th of June is always a really hard day for me, remembering my Dad and reflecting on times gone by, its hard to believe its been 7 years since his passing.  I think he would be proud of the person I am and that I'm out having adventures and really living life.

There was so much more ice in the water than the previous day, and as the double kayak was more stable, Theresa and Greg went first and I in the single behind them. We were literally carving our path through the ice, avoiding the big bergs as we’d been warned they can roll over unexpectedly.  We paddled right up to a seal sitting happily on a big chunk of ice and watched him slide effortlessly into the ocean, magic.  We beached as close as we could be safe to the glacier and then spent the next few hours listening and watching the ice carve into the ocean.  One of those rare moments.  This was our first of 3 tidewater glaciers, the others had a lot to live up to.


 
On our paddle to Pederson point our camp for the night, we noticed a guided kayak group all stopped off to the side.  Just as we were getting close to them, this massive orca whale jumped up out of the water, breached and flipped onto its back. WOW! Stunned none of us got our cameras ready in time, it breached again.  Twice how lucky were we, but no photographic evidence as it all happened so fast. It wasn’t traveling alone, off to the side was a humpback whale as well.  Everyone was so happy to have been shared a unique experience of these magnificent mammals.
aerial view of Pederson lagoon into glacier from poster

Pederson point, is literally a little island for camping on with a bear box, lots of trees but as it was drizzling it made for a soggy night.  Getting to the campsite was a bit of a mission as we arrived at low tide so had to ride the waves into the rocky beach (how do you steer a kayak in the waves a skill I haven’t learned as I came in scarily sideways hitting a rock).  Then we had to carry both kayaks a long way up the beach to account for high tide later.  Behind it in the distance is the Pederson Glacier, which is only reached at high tide as you snake your way along this shallow lagoon.  We had been told there was  lots of recent black bear activity here so were all on our guard, and as much as Theresa wanted to see a black bear close up, no luck we didn’t have any bother us at all.





We set off an hour before high tide the next day, the first part was a strong current that steered us into the lagoon, then we had to paddle against the tide before we reached the ice.  Wow what a contrast from yesterday.  This glacier isn’t as steep and dramatic as the Aialik glacier but special in its own way.  Here we were paddling around big icebergs trying to pick a way closer to the glacier.  Of course we couldn’t get all the way so beached and then ate lunch.  Again having the place to ourselves extra special.  The seals kept popping up curious as always.  We spent a couple of hours in here then had to leave to get our before the it got too shallow to leave.  The paddle to the last campsite was longer than we imagined, just around the corner, proved to be a very long curve! The sea otters just ‘chilling out’ as we paddled past had us smiling while Theresa and I began to sing songs to keep us energized. YMCA ha ha! We weren’t going to have this campsite to ourselves there was a guided group of two out there at Holgate arm, but we didn’t mind.

Theresa is German and about 3 weeks into a year long around the world trip. She had been rationing her food all week so being the final night we could eat almost everything left ha ha!! All the wood was too wet for a fire so we had to toast our marshmallows on the stove flame so we could finish with smores again.  I think this is one of those trips where I’ll have put on weight instead of losing it!  Theresa taught us the German card game she was traveling with, a fun night entailed as we attempted to plant beans and harvest them, they even have a bean called the ‘throw up bean’.  Again our campsite was in view of the final glacier the Holgate glacier.  Not quite as loud and active as Aialik glacier but you could still hear and see the calving of the ice into the ocean.       

smores!




card games with a view
German bean harvesting game!
Then it rained, it rained heavily all night and didn’t stop in the morning.  Without a tarp set up it took us a while to get motivation to leave the tents, but we had until 4pm to be back to get ready for pickup, so after a wet breakfast we paddled to Holgate Glacier and discovered surprise glacier as its hidden until you are right close to Holgate glacier.  It was hard paddling as I know I had a strained bicep muscle and Theresa was in pain with an overuse wrist injury and we were yet again against the current.  There were quite a few waves created by tour boats that were also coming to check out the glacier, so much so it made Theresa feel sea sick, so her and Greg went in and beached near the glacier and I stayed out watching and paddling amongst the ice.  We kind of became a tourist attraction ourselves as the people on the tour boats took pictures of us out paddling.

Thanks so much to Greg and Theresa for making this a fabulous trip, as though the scenery and adventure was amazing its never as special unless you can share it with people you care about :-)

So whats next for me? Well we all have to keep a little adventure hidden so you'll just have to stay tuned as I take another step forward into the great unknown. Thanks everyone for your support and I love hearing from friends around the world, makes me feel less far away from you all :-)

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