Day 11 - Sep 10, 2000 Last updated: 9/10/00 9:00pm AKDT
Well, the weather is not permitting our bear flight-seeing adventure. This is the first day that we’ve had a lot of rain. Usually it has been just a light rain that never lasted too long to cancel what we had planned. It rained lightly during one of our hikes, but we put on the waterproof rain pants and jackets and we were fine. The company we were going to go out with said that it was very windy at the bear viewing location, about a hour and a half flight in a puddle jumper plane.
So what to do when it’s raining? Go sea kayaking! We went down to the docks to try and collect a refund on our bear flight, but no one was in their office. Across the street was the office for the kayak outfitter we were using tomorrow (True North Kayak Adventures), so we thought we’d check in. Good thing we did. Kevin, co-owner and our guide for the day, said that they probably wouldn’t go out tomorrow because the winds would be up around here and that would make kayaking difficult. He said that the animals are easier to see in the rain because the sound of the rain drops muffles out the sound of the kayaks and we wouldn’t scare the animals away. Animals like sea otters are already wet, so a little rain doesn’t bother them. If there were high winds, there would be high waves (see day 9) so the animals would be seeking shelter under those conditions.
I did not take any pictures because it was raining pretty heavy at times and I do not have a waterproof camcorder. We were completely dry inside the kayaks in our rain gear. It was actually a great day, even though it rained almost all day. The water was extremely flat. Only when the rain let up right at the end of our trip did the waves start to kick up, and the waves weren’t that big. We were out from 11am to 3:30pm which included a 15 minute boat ride to Yukon Island each way. We also took about a half hour break for lunch. We landed on a beach that had a small cave, which protected us from the rain while we ate (True North provided sandwiches)
We saw 3 bald eagles, bunches of sea otters, sea lions, and various birds. We got very close (too close really) to a mama sea otter with her baby. We didn’t know it was a mom when we approached. She was floating on her back and had her baby on her stomach. I felt like we were totally invading her space. I think she thought so too, she looked us over a couple of times, then she started to paddle her feet and slowly swam away.
It was an amazing day. Kevin from True North was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. Getting a close up view of a baby sea otter, a few more bald eagle sightings, and it was so relaxing just sitting in the kayak, floating on the water, looking out at mountains, seeing no signs of civilization, and watching some birds fly by.
Dinner was at Captain Pattie’s. We had the Alaskan King Crab legs. They were huge. The size of one leg was from the tip of my fingers down to the inside of my elbow, I’m not kidding. Two legs weighed in at 1 pound. They were mighty tasty too.
Tomorrow we will try to fly out on our bear viewing trip. Based on our kayak guides prediction of the weather, I’d say it doesn’t look good.