“We won’t know if the plane’s coming or not until we hear it”, the surveyor said with a grin. That wasn’t helpful to us trying to plan when our electric bear fence might arrive and whether we’d be able to paddle today. But it was accurate. The locals have nicknames for the small airlines Pen Air and Grant aviation that service them several times a week – “When Air” and “Can’t aviation”. Mail and passenger planes are often delayed but usually due to high winds or fog, rather than the airlines incompetence. In reality, the planes bringing people and supplies are a lifeline to these communities with no roads to outside.

The plane finally arrived at 4pm and happily our fence was on it. Rena at the post office kindly let us collect the parcel on a Sunday and we decided to launch. It was nearly 6.30pm when we pushed off the beach and waved goodbye to a few new friends. Ironically the predicted westerly was an easterly across the first Bay and we were cursing the lack of beaches where we could camp nearby. The towering cliffs and spikey pinnacles were beautiful in the evening sunshine. We could see snowy mountains in the distance and the rich reds and greens of cliffs on nearby islands. Once we passed the first Bay, a light wind swung around behind us and Whales were blowing all around. One surfaced 100 metres behind us with a loud hiss. At 10.30pm we landed at the end of a long sandy beach, piled high with a hotch potch of driftwood stacked 5 or 6 logs high.

It took a while to set up the electric fence for the first time but our tent and kayaks are now encased in a 20foot square protected by 2 buzzing wires. Should any curious or hungry bear put his or her nose to the wire he should get 9 volts shooting through to his toes. It’s now late and way past my bed time.