It was hard to leave the comfort and company of Blue fox lodge to push off into a wet grey windy day. Our target was the North coast of Shuyak Island, the launchpad for an 18 mile crossing to the Barren Islands. Despite a NE 30 knot forecast, we crossed the tidal Shuyak strait at close to slack water in fairly calm conditions.

Jerry had told us about a a shortcut, a narrow winding psssage through the trees that is only passable by small boats at high water on big tides. We nearly couldn’t find Skiff Pass, even though we were in the right place. It looked impossible that the sea could pass through the thick forest but as we got closer a 5 metre wide sandy passage appeared snaking away from us. We followed a trickle of water for 100 metres but we were too early and the flow ended in a 6 inch deep pool. After a 45 minute lunch, the tide had filled the sandy banks to 20 metres wide and we jumped back on and rode the salty river round blind bends, under overhanging trees and past partially submerged rocks. Sarah remarked that we were “tree kayaking instead of sea kayaking”. There was no wind and it did feel like another world. Inevitably we reached the point where the tide was flooding in from the other side and now we had to fight a river flowing against us for a mile. It didn’t matter, it was a fu n
diversion from paddling into the wind and swell if we’d gone round the NW corner of Shuyak.

Soon we were on the north coast and were back fighting the wind and waves which had both picked up from the morning. We couldn’t see more than a mile away all day and a constant wet drizzle created permanent raindrops on our noses, chins and hair. We tried to dodge the waves that were breaking over shallow rocks, throwing salt water into the mix but didn’t always manage. I wanted to push on a bit further but Sarah was getting too cold so we landed on a rocky beach which will hopefully have a great view of the Barren Islands if the mist ever lifts. We’re tucked up in our sleeping bags early hoping tomorrow’s forecast for 25 knots magically changes. Due to the strong tides here, we’ll need to leave at the crack of dawn or mid afternoon tomorrow if we are able to go but at the moment Monday looks more likely.