8 June 2020Very calm last night. Coffee and egg/cheese/avocado burritos before off exploring in kayaks around 1230. Scouted the obvious pass into Cliff Bay (too steep to carry kayaks down the south side) and a more hidden route nearby with a gentle mossy path. Decided to paddle instead of carrying the boats over – the flood tide at full force and a southerly breeze made it a bit more difficult, but it was a lovely paddle. The steep granite cliffs exposed to storm waves from the south had deep vertical cracks that made booming and gurgling noises with the gentle swell. Brent got some great recordings of this stretch of coastline’s soundscape from the kayak. We saw a few harbor seals, a Steller Sea Lion, a humpback, and a number of kittiwakes, horned puffins, and cormorants. A light drizzle started about halfway through our counter-clockwise adventure around this peninsula, so when we made it back to the pass we portaged the kayaks over quickly so I could get back to the sailboat and put the solar panel away. We were content paddling in the rain, but the panel is not waterproof! We decided to save paddling to the Cape for another day in the near future and instead went for a short cool-down paddle across Paradise Cove to the low pass over to Agnes Cove. This is a major bottleneck for all (land-based) animal traffic on the outer Aialik Peninsula. As soon as we left the boats and clambered up into the mossy forest clearing we could tell this was a very popular spot for bears. Salmon scales in scat from years past, claw marks in the mud, roots dug up, a well-trodden trail – all the usual signs. We didn’t walk up to the saddle but enjoyed peeking into the very comfortable bear life here in Aialik. Back to the boat for a hot mug of Bengal spice tea, a “Week in Review” dinner (leftovers) with chili oil, a podcast, and the cozy heat of the stove. Early to bed. Calm. 9 June 2020Another lovely, calm night. Morning coffee and breakfast with thrushes singing, then gear together for a full day exploring via kayak. We carries the boats up the steep and mossy pass, unfortunately smack in the middle of a very low (-2 ft) tide. Overcast skies with some low clouds, intermittent drizzle, just a gentle breath of wind – a great paddling day. Fun to see so many sea stars and anemones and deeper seaweeds exposed as we paddled out of Cliff Bay. The tide was against us, but this was no surprise and we were very motivated by the lack of any significant swell in the outer bay. Forecast for Cape Cleare to Gore Point today is variable wind 10 knots, seas 4 feet. Amazing. Dall’s porpoise with steeply angled dives swam near to us on our paddle out, misty heart-shaped humpback spouts in the distance, and puffins flying by that narrowly avoided collisions with us by steering away at the last second. We arrived at the Cape around 1330, shouted “Northbound Chicken Pass!” before paddling through the rocky spires, then admired a perfectly balanced ‘window’ rock formation and the Cape proper. One small Hughes craft motoring past was quite surprised to see us out there in little kayaks and checked in to make sure we were okay. The Gulf of Alaska with no wind and gentle swell was incredible – a place I’ve wanted to kayak for years. But it gets better. Orcas headed south from No Name towards the Cape! El Dorado was one of the bulls we saw, and his dorsal fin seemed even more towering from just a foot above the water. To hear the orcas breathing so clearly, and cutting through the water so quickly – wow. I wish I had the words to describe this highlight experience.
We paddled back towards the coast, took a break for lunch deep in Chat Cove (not many places to easily climb onshore), and portaged from Cliff Bay back to Paradise. Chips and salsa to start, quinoa with veggies and Italian sausage for dinner, and hot cocoa for dessert. Tired and happy.
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AuthorCanvas & Ice Archives
April 2021
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