Archive for the ‘kayaking’ Category

We enjoyed a beautiful calm day on the water. The clouds lifted overnight revealing snowy mountains, jagged cliffs, deep bays and powerful waterfalls. For most of the morning we could see our reflections in the deep blue sea, and the reflections of the sharp peaks.

It was a long day, we were on the water at 9.45am and didn’t land until 8pm. We wanted to get within striking distance of Dutch Harbour so we have the option of arriving there tomorrow. It worked, we covered 28 miles and have about 25 left to go. Some of the headlands have swathes of thick kelp guarding them which takes extra time and energy to battle through. On one occasion for about a mile- I elected to paddle extra distance around that one while Sarah earnt a badge for fighting through it.

We saw loads of otters and a sea lion wrestling with a fish just a few metres from our boat. We’re camped by two lovely twin waterfalls in a calm bay.

Tomorrow will be our eighth day in a row paddling. 2 of those days were short paddling days but we went for long walks instead. The other days have all been 8-10 hours on the water so we’re a bit tired and are hedging our bets on whether we reach dutch harbour tomorrow. The forecast is good for 2 days so if it turns out to be worse conditions than expected or too long of a day then we’ll split the journey into two days and arrive on Monday. Otherwise it will be tomorrow (Sunday) evening. We’ll make the call at lunchtime. It’s exciting to be so close. Whenever we arrive we may get welcomed in by some local paddlers which would be great.

The last 5 mile paddle today is my favourite of the trip so far. The steep cliffy section had us craning our necks upwards to gaze at layers of contorted rocks then glancing down at small pinnacles dotting the shore. We passed the giant rusty hulk of a ship wreck washed up onto a tiny rocky beach, and an amazing waterfall spewing a single concentrated jet over a precipice from 200 metres up. We smelt the pungent colony first, then heard the familiar snorting and roaring. Finally we rounded a corner to see the brown sea lions lounging on their spiky rock, snoozing or picking a fight with their neighbour. Otters popped their heads up to take a look at us as we cruised by. Usually they disappear into the deep once we get within 50 metres or so but one fella today just stayed on his back with his 4 feet up and his tail up in the air staring curiously at us for several minutes until we paddled away.

The wind and swell started off lively this morning and dropped through the day. Sarah was able to sail with a light side wind this morning. After lunch our course gradually changed from East to North until we had a headwind for the last stretch but we barely noticed because it was so beautiful.

Unalaska reminds me a bit of Amlia Island although on a grander scale and with more indented bays. I chuckled yesterday as our beach was full of pretty green pebbles just like the ones I have carried all the way from Amlia in my kayak. The low clouds that hide the peaks are the same as on Amlia too, maybe that’s part of the geology?

Keirron Tastagh and George Shaw kayaked this section from Herbert island to Unalaska (in the opposite direction to us) a couple of years ago. Keirron kindly showed me where they camped and shared other information before our trip. Coincidentally we’ve camped in the same place as them on the last 3 nights although I think they had strong offshore winds on this section and we’ve had great weather for the last 2 days.

Sarah caught a black bass on the way into the bay tonight. As I was filleting it, a red fox came to within 15 metres of me. I think he might have gone for the fish if I hadn’t shooed him away. He didn’t go far. He found the guts and did a wee on them (why? ), then took a liking to the head which he started munching on right besides us.

Now we should really be asleep getting rest for tomorrow but it’s such a lovely evening and otters are in the bay outside the tent. Another great day. “Only” 20 miles paddled, not a big day considering conditions were good but we’re enjoying our time on Unalaska. It’s a little under 50 miles to Dutch Harbour from here.

Another day, another island! And what a perfect day for it. With a fairly gentle NW wind predicted and a flooding tide (north going), we decided to make a 12 mile crossing from Cape Idak, the NW corner of Umnak island to Aspid Cape so we could make the most of a following sea. This also avoided the tidal rips and confused currents in the narrowest gap between the islands. Sarah was in charge of navigating and she did a grand job.

Layers of clouds like sheets of cotton wool lay over the peaks on both islands, offering glimpses of the higher mountains although mainly our view was of the lower slopes. We could see the bold black triangular Cape we were heading for and watched it slowly take shape. Since Sarah’s mast bent yesterday, I gave her mine so she could sail. With 10-15 knots behind us, we were similar speeds which we both enjoyed.

We decided to camp at a small pebble beach besides the Cape at around 5pm after a great day on the water. On the way in, we caught another decent sized black bass which we cooked over a fire. Needless to say, it was delicious. We washed it down with a beer that Scott had given us as we left Nikolski.

The forecast is looking pretty good for another 2 days paddling at least with NW or SW winds. We’re looking forward to seeing some of the indented coastline of Unalaska as we head towards Dutch Harbour. Dutch harbour and the town of Unalaska is our next resupply point and is the biggest settlement in the Aleutians. It’s about 60 miles away if we took the shortest route but we’ll probably poke around into some of the bays on the way and maybe have a day off somewhere on the way, weather enforced or otherwise.

Right now, I’m watching a peregrine Falcon attack an eagle and I’m about to cook a marshmallow over the fire! Life is pretty good.

Today started well. For the first time in a while, the wind and tide pushed us on our way North and NE. Despite a forecast for SW winds less than 20 knots, it was SE and gusting up to at least 30. Still, it was a helpful push and the sails really helped us to catch more waves and gain a little extra speed. In the first 2 hours we saw dozens of otters, a pod of dolphins, seals and 2 fragrant rocks full of growling sea lions. The backdrop changed between basalt columns, ragged lava flows, sweeping green hills, castlelike rocks on top of conical mounds to long back sandy beaches littered with pale logs and fishing buoys.

Every bay funneled the wind in a different way, sometimes it was behind us, sometimes offshore and occasionally in our faces as we first entered a bay. The gusts increased and I was starting to wonder what the limit was for the Flat earth sails we are using, and the deck fittings, non stretch cord and the kayaks themselves. One of my side stays, the cord which attaches the mast to each side of my deck had come a bit loose and my mast listed to the left slightly. I was worried this was putting too much pressure on the right side stay and I was right because bam, the deck fitting broke and the sail was down. The plastic on the deck fitting had broken in two. Fortunately my deck was still in tact and the kayak wasn’t leaking. We have some spare deck fittings so we can fix it.

Sarah put her sail down for a while but she put it up again when I said I thought my breakage happened due to the listing of my mast. It was interesting to see the difference in our speeds and the amount of effort we put in now I had no sail. My kayak immediately felt twice as heavy and I had to work really hard to try to keep up with Sarah, even when she just braced or used a stern rudder. Having said that, the difference in our speeds was probably not massive especially if I was able to surf enough waves, and as long at I worked alot harder (which I was quite enjoying)!

Then a gust hit Sarah hard and her mast bent out of shape to one side. They are pretty strong metal masts so that surprised me. And that was the end of our sailing for the day and possibly for a while unless we can bend the mast back into shape or get a replacement. I feel a bit foolish after the event as it’s now clear we were trying to use the sails in too strong winds but hindsight is a fine thing, I guess now we know. The sails have been great and using them is a fun learning experience for both of us.

After a couple more hours paddling, Sarah had had enough of paddling across bays in strong winds so we pulled into a small beach to camp. We immediately saw and heard 2 eagles flying low overhead and calling. It was clear they had a nest nearby. Moving to the far end of the beach didn’t appease them so we reluctantly got back into our kayaks and paddled another half a mile to the next beach. 27 nautical miles today and a great day, of course, other than a couple of breakages.