Kayaking, Hiking and Porpoises

Today (Monday, June 24th) began with kayaking at 6:30 a.m. Remember, there is almost no night here, and everyone is still on east coast time, so there were plenty of us awake at that hour! Nate is sleeping on the top bunk in our cabin, and at 6:10 a.m. we mustered out of bed and put on our rain pants. I was particularly glad to see coffee offered before we set off!

The Boat Company has two-seater kayaks for everyone on board, as well as five skiffs, all of which live on the upper decks and are winched down to water level as needed. Very soon we were all away to explore.

Kayaking with a garrulous seven-year-old is a sketch. Nate is an exuberant child, and every rock looks like a bear, which he shouts out triumphantly for the other kayakers, making it unlikely we will actually come upon a bear, or any other animal with ears. Our instructions are to never get out on land from our kayak, as bears particularly love to graze in the high grasses right near the shore.

Looking around me, once I was thoroughly awake, I thought to myself, how lucky can you be??? Kayaking on a beautiful morning in Alaska with your grandchild…it doesn’t get any better than this!
Back an hour later, we felt as if we deserved our blueberry pancakes and fruit. At breakfast we had to decide what we would do with our morning. The options were: 1) stay on board and relax 2) go halibut fishing from a skiff 3) go on a four-mile hike from the shore to an upland lake, via “The Stairway to Heaven,” a long series of steps carved out of tree trunks.

Fred and I chose the hike, and were so glad we did. It was strenuous, but we had three leaders, so we had both a fast and a moderate speed group, and then a diplomatically-named wildflower group hiking with our botanist, into which we immediately placed ourselves. We made it to the lake and back and learned a lot in the process.

The fishermen came back with three halibut (one of which had to be thrown back) and a rockfish, which we will have for dinner Tuesday night.

Lunch was delicious, and this afternoon we are steaming 30 miles into the Inner Passage, so we have time to wash clothes, read and relax. Typical of the thoughtful details included in this trip, there is a drying closet for your washed clothes on the top deck.

While writing this post, the motor slowed – a sign that we are passing something interesting. Our captain spied sea dolphins, black and white flashes under the water going faster than the boat, surfacing just long enough to arch over the waves, and staying off our bow to gather thrown food. Soon we were all on the rail, feasting on their grace and beauty.

My clothes washing was interrupted once again, this time to watch a humpback whale spouting, its huge grey body barely surfacing. When it decided to dive the body rolled, displacing a heap of water, its tail flipped us goodbye, and down it went.

photo album