Sarah and I moved 6 miles today. It doesn’t sound like much but we crossed a pass (the name given to the gap between to Islands here) and we only have 2 more to cross before reaching atka, an approx 50 mile long Island where people live on the eastern end. The pass we crossed was described in the pilot as having the strongest tide rips in the Andreanofs so is good to get it behind us. Despite a really gusty wind there were no tide rips where we paddled, just white caps and spray from the wind. The tides are neap at the moment and the races so far have been gentle unless the wind is against them. And so far the chart had been accurate in predicting where they occur. However just 10-15 knots opposing wind can create intimidating seas as we found in the 4 mile wide Chugul Pass yesterday. From Tagalak Island where we are now, it’s 16 miles to Atka across two 4 mile wide passes, with probably no camping options along the way. This afternoon would have been wind against tide so w e
finished early and are resting, eating and exploring ready for an early start tomorrow if the forecast is favourable and we’ll try to get across before the tide turns!
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A game of chess
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Great day with helpful wind. We used the sails and survived our first tidal race. Now camped on Chugul Island
Great day today constantly surrounded by chattering birds, impressive cliffs and volcanoes. The wind picked up behind us and we encountered some confused breaking waves halfway across Chugul pass- our first tidal race, definitely not our last! It's neap tides right now but with only 15 knots of wind it was feisty enough. A good distance covered too, 22 miles over 7.5 hours. The sails helped with that and are fun to use.
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And we’re off!
We started kayaking today at 1pm waved on by locals including the school kids. The wind was gentle and the sun came out giving us a great start. We crossed our first pass between Islands close to slack water with no problems. Our kayaks are really heavy with 3-4 weeks food and landing at lunchtime on a gravel beach with small but surging surf was tricky. Landing spots are few and far between on these rocky volcanic Islands and tonight we landed up a rocky river and awkwardly carried the kayaks onto a ledge. it was 6pm, Sarah was tired and we didn’t think there would be a good landing for at least a couple of hours. Now we’re well fed, looking forward to an early night and hoping for more good weather.
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Stiff legs, empty houses and warm hearts
“Knock Knock”, a knuckle rapped gently on the door of our borrowed house on Adak. I was just after 9am. I tried to leap out of bed, but my calves, thighs and shoulders screamed at me to take it easy. I hobbled down the stairs as quickly as I could and just caught Elaine moments before she left our breakfast on the doorstep. Inside, she put water on for coffee and tea while I rubbed sleep from my eyes. It took me a minute to realise that she was carrying enough pancakes, burgers and fried potatoes to feed a small army. Imelda, who cooks for 300 fish plant workers through the cod fishing season had taken time to made us a feast, knowing that we’d be tired and hungry from our 20 hours of walking over the last 2 days.
5 days into our stay on Adak, Sarah, Lucy and I have well and truly made ourselves at home. Our house is one of several hundred that were built by the US navy during the second world war to house the thousands of troops stationed here. They look like housing estates anywhere, except there are no signs of life. It’s quite eerie to walk or drive along the empty streets, with no cars, no washing lines full of clothes, no kids toys in the gardens, no people, no noise. The 100 permanent residents of Adak are scattered about in the houses, as are 100 contractors here as part of an on-going project to dispose of the many ordnances (bombs, mines etc) left on the island
We’ve been busy sorting out our kayaks and kit – glueing, wrapping, consolidating, drilling, trimming and organising. We’ve packed enough food for 3-4 weeks because villages and food supplies are few and far between. We’ve even removed the edges off our dehydrated meals despite one friend commenting that we ‘shouldn’t be cutting corners on our expedition’.
6 months ago Sarah arrived from Japan in her rowing boat in a small cove on the South coast of Adak. To ‘join the dots’ of her human powered journey we spent the last 2 days walking there and back. It’s about 9 miles one way along a vague hiking trail, used more by the introduced caribou than by people. The island map said it should take 11 hours which I found hard to believe – surely we wouldn’t travel less than 1 mile/ hour!? After a couple of hours of route finding, stream crossing, bog-hopping, hill climbing and heavy panting I began to wonder whether it would take us longer than that. Fortunately it doesn’t get dark until after 10pm and it was an amazing walk through a little-visited wild island. I enjoyed becoming familiar with the small plants and lichens growing in this treeless landscape & I loved the ever-changing views, the sweet fresh air and the sense of adventure. We finally made it to a lovely campsite above Camel Cove after 9 hours. The return journey took 11 as we took a ‘shortcut’ through an unnamed pass which turned out to be a steep snow-filled gully surrounded by cliffs! 
Now we’re back in Adak town, we are being really well looked after by the locals. Elaine has lent us her truck, fed us caribou-dog from animals that she hunted last year and tonight we are going to have a Banja (sauna) at her house to ease our aching muscles. Imelda has been feeding us most days and others are showing us their warm hearts every day. It’s a privilege to have an insight into the way of life in such a remote island community.
Kayaking – we hope to start on Sunday or Monday after Sarah’s fiancee Lucy flies home.
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