What a lovely day paddling. We were treated to mostly cruising along coastline rather than big crossings in the mist. We could look at caves, arches, lava flows, and the occasional peak at a peak in the islands of four mountains. Most of the islands kept their summits under wraps with just the occasional flirtation where they gave a glimpse of the upper slopes but the smaller Uliga revealed all in the afternoon, before mist and rain cloaked everything in a white veil.

We started the day by crossing 5 miles across Chuginadak Pass. Sarah described the passage as “easy”, perhaps in comparison to our last 2 crossings! The wind was light, there was a reasonable swell and a hard to describe energy to the water. It felt like a dormant giant that could awaken at any moment, unleashing breaking waves or currents that we couldn’t paddle against. Fortunately Goliath continued to sleep as we glided across to Chuginadak island against a gentle current. I briefly spotted a whale which disappeared after one blow and a flash of black fin.

The chart showed a few waterfalls on the North coast and we landed at the first one for lunch, admiring it’s wide cascade tumbling into the sea. Water bags full, we continued past 5 more steep ribbons of water, remarking that waterfalls are like busses.

I was tempted to cross North to Kagamil island because we may have a weather window to go to Nikolski on Sunday. The tide ( of unknown strength) will be going south most of Sunday so it might make life easier to start the 20+ mile crossing North of our target. But when we reached Kagamil pass, chunky breaking waves made it look like life wouldn’t be easier if we crossed. We landed at the very beautiful Skiff Cove towards the east end of Chuginadak island, complete with its very own tumbling cascade.

On the way in, we tried fishing for the first time. I almost immediately caught 4 fish on the same set of feathers (apparently they are rock bass?). I let two of them go and we cooked up one of the keepers on the fire tonight. Yum, although I felt really bad killing them. Sarah pointed out that it’s better to eat meat that way, caught yourself without waste than buying it in a supermarket.

Tomorrow is a rest day gathering strength for our last challenging crossing before we see other people again, and get a resupply ( and hopefully a wash! ). It’s about 30 miles to Nikolski where about 15 people live so hopefully we can do that in one day if we get good weather. Maybe on Sunday if the forecast stays good.