“Would you like a beer?”, the boat captain shouted from his cabin. We’d been chatting to the crew from “Challenger”, one of 5 seiner boats fishing off Black Cape just after lunch. It was the first alcohol we’d sniffed for 3 weeks so we readily accepted. Despite the fact we had 10 more miles to paddle, we cracked one open and shared it. Half a can each was enough to have us laughing hysterically at our burps and feeling a bit light headed. The calm coastal paddle under grey drizzly skies was a contrast to yesterday’s bright sky and gusty winds. Today would have been a much more appropriate day for a 35 mile crossing but you only know that with hind sight.

It’s exciting to be in a new place geographically. We are only superficially seeing the Kodiak Islands but they do have a different feel. Sitka spruce trees stand proud in every available valley, hillside and hilltop. Even tiny Islands look top heavy with their sentinels standing tall. The damp woody smell is a new sensation for us, we’re used to the lush grasses and mosses of further West. Boat traffic has multiplied, we saw and heard 10 fishing boats today, when most days we see none. Gunshots rang out from the trees this morning; many loud bangs destroying the peace and I felt a bit sad that someone would be trying to kill the wonderful creatures we’ve shared a habitat with for three months. But seeing more people means we’re getting closer to the end of our journey in Homer, now less than 100 miles away.

Tonight we landed at Blue Fox bay Lodge, recommended to us by captain Billy Pepper. It’s the only building for miles around and is run by Jerry and Colleen. We landed at 6pm but couldn’t find anyone home. As we were wondering what to do, a boat came around the corner and it was Jerry and Colleen just returning from a 3 day resupply trip to Kodiak town. They invited us in and we had a great evening which started with champagne and ended with rum. They are really interesting people and we look forward to spending more time with them tomorrow since the forecast is for up to 35 knots from the east. The winds look unfavorable for three days right now so it’s a case of so near and yet so far. .. But we’ll see. Things change fast here and surely we are due a SW wind sometime soon! ?