Close encounter of a Orca kind- Northwestern Fjord 8/1-5

Northwestern Fjord is a special place. A slice of wilderness paradise. Not easy or inexpensive to get to but ... worth it. A 3 hour charter boat ride started the trip.



Travel companions included Harry and Charles Brod and Bill Byers. Sunshine and seals greeted us as we paddled toward Anchor and Ogive glaciers.



Our trip included some bushwacking and glacier morraine hiking. Its an incredible area to explore by foot or paddle.



What a landscape



Everywhere you look is a picture.



Not every day or trip is sunny. We get our share of rain and usually we're compensated on those days with good wildlife sightings. Our paddle day to Harris Bay started with a mellow drizzle. As the wind waves and rain intensified so did our wildlife encounters. First we had humpback whales in the distance then we noticed a pod of orcas coming our way. They were an easy spot with a whale research boat and a Kenai Fjords Tour boat also viewing the orcas. The orcas however were more interested in us. This short clip is just one of the passes the whales made to check the kayakers out. They were curious and at no time did I sense that we were in danger. I think some folks on the tour boat thought we were about to be dinner.

Aialik Adventure - guide training

Sunny Cove offers pre season training for our guide staff. This year we were again fortunate to have one of the experts on Kenai Fjords join us. Mike Tetreau spent 20 years working as a resource manager for the National Park and currently consults with Kenai Fjords and Olympic National Parks. Peter Waterman, Brett Manary and I spent several days with Mike exploring Aialik Bay. This is our first camp site.



Abra Cove has spectacular waterfalls making even rainy day paddling beautiful.



Quite the campsite



Hiking in Aialik is challenging but offers rewarding views




One of our adventures involved paddling some infrequently visited lagoons. Late spring snow made dragging the kayaks into the lagoons easier



Even the experts have a difficult time telling a sea lion skull apart from a bear skull. We eventually decided it was a bear.



The sun came out to brighten our paddle to Aialik Glacier.

Aialik Bay Guided Rental June 4-7, 2009

Audrey kicked our season off with a 4-day paddle in Aialik Bay. This trip was a guided rental and the paddlers, Mary, Tracy and Kristen had reserved the Aialik Cabin. Audrey took a lot of photos while on the trip...below are a few.

Audrey

View from Coleman Bay

Aialik Glacier

Aialik Glacier and Paddlers
Pederson Lagoon

Mary in Abra Cove

Guided rentals are a good way to go if you have your own camping equipment and you want to save a few bucks. We offer guided rental options on all of our overnight trips. You bring the food and camping gear, we'll bring the guide and paddling equipment!

Seward Adventures

Well...I had an opportunity to get out into Kenai Fjords National Park and Aialik Bay another way...by tour boat. While its not exactly the one on one experience you'll get in a kayak it sure is a good way to cover some serious distance. We traveled through Resurrection Bay, along Caines and Calisto Head, into Porcupine Cove, around Cape Aialik and finally to Holgate Glacier before returning.

Before we even made it out of the Bay we had our first encounter with a North Pacific Sea Otter.

Then the Dall's Porpoise made their way over. The Dall's love to bow surf with the big boats.

As we made our way towards Cape Aialik we found ourselves in the middle of a show. Our boat captain had found a group of two pods of resident Orcas and set us up in a good position to view that allowed for plenty of distance to allow the Orcas space. Now, you may look at that picture and think..'wow, that looks pretty close to me!' Well, it is! Three of the Orca's made their way to the boat, swam UNDER the boat and then proceeded to give us a show that lasted at least 15 minutes.

Wow, right! Can't really top seeing something like that....

But, we tried our best and headed over to Holgate Glacier. The glacier wasn't overly active, but the day was beautiful!

Interested in learning more about Orcas? Try this link or this link...

Want to combine a wildlife cruise with a few hours of kayaking in front of Holgate Glacier? Check out our Grand Day trip or email us at kayakak@alaska.net.

-Stephanie

Spring paddle and ski

Early April offers lots of fun outdoor opportunities. We loaded up the touring skis and paddled out to Tonsina Creek for  a ski up the river drainage. Its one of our favorite winter tours. 

 

All it involves is a switch from  Xtratufs to ski boots. The frozen Rivers provide easy access to areas which would be much more challenging to visit during summer. 

It was a beautiful day to explore. We took a nice lunch and a bottle of wine. Temperatures were in the lower 30s, very comfortable especially when skiing.  

 It's a couple of miles to the end of the valley. The mountains climb steeply from the valley floor. We passed by several avalanche chutes all showing recent activity. We'll save any mountain exploring for a more bombproof avalanche day.

Winter Paddle in search of a Humpback Whale

Close encounters with a shore cruising Humpback Whale encouraged us to take a paddle. With temps in the high teens, no wind and bright sun the day was crisp.  The water was beautiful. We dug the kayaks out and headed toward Tonsina Creek. My first encounter was with a shy sea otter who was munching a crab. By the time I got my camera out he was gone.

With poggies and layered clothing we were warm and comfortable. The eagles that soared above and the seal that swam near me also appeared comfortable. It was a stunning day. 

The Humpback didn’t appear but it didn’t matter.  We paddled yesterday and will ski today.  It's an incredible time of year and we're enjoying it. 

John and Kat

November Paddle

We woke to sunshine and snow. The choice today was to ski or paddle. Paddling won.




I caught high tide at Tonsina, Four seals were also enjoying the beautiful day.

The mountains are tempting today. Another snow and it will be time to break out the telly skis 

What a beautiful place

John