Our mobile adventure platform, the Safari Explorer, anchored of a remote island in the Shumagin Islands, called Unga Island.
Today we explored the Shumagin Islands, far out the Alaskan Peninsula. These islands are almost out to the start of the Aleutians. Again, we weren't sure what we would find once we got here, but this turned into one of my favorite stops on the entire trip. We anchored in Delarof Bay, the site of an abandoned village. There were whales a few miles out, and lots of birds flying around the rocky headlands. Huge sea arches were also visible off to the south of the boat.
Right after anchoring, Christian and I jumped in one of our small boats and raced off for some early morning recon. We checked out the ghost town, which was inhabited by a bunch of big, hairy cows. Then we slipped through the rock arch, and drove over to where we saw the birds. It turns out that there were many, many more birds than we thought. Tens of thousands of kittiwakes, five thousand puffins, and another thousand common murres called this one offshore rock 'home'.
We changed the plan to spend all day out here. We sent out kayaks, skiff tours, we hiked up to the top of the arch, and we explored the old ghost village. On the kayak we covered some distance. I took our group through the sea arch, into a sea cave, and then across the bay to puffin rock. It was pretty wild having a thousand puffins flying around our kayaks. Then we had two very large steller sea lions chase each other right under our kayaks.
In the afternoon I led a hard charger hike up to the top of the arch. It got a bit dicey near the end of the hike, as the path out to the arch became a knifes edge. Once I saw that the feral cows had come and gone across the narrow bit, I felt better about crossing it myself. The view was pretty magical. After climbing a really, really big rock, and heading back to the beach, we skiffed over to the abandoned village for a meander around. Since there are no bears on the island we could give everyone free range to explore at their own pace. I found a hill overlooking the bay and just sat and took in the peace of the place.
These are my first red faced cormorants. They were quite beautiful in the early morning sun.
Two horned puffins swim nearby as we kayak around puffin rock.
I almost never find sea otters hauled out onto rocks, but this one sure was.
Tufted puffins numbered in the thousands here. They were all landing and nesting ontop of a large offshore rock we dubbed puffin rock.
Closeup of a horned puffin.
Tufted puffins are easily recognizable by their yellow eyebrow tufts which are lacking on the horned puffins.
This was a very small snapshot of the top of puffin rock.
The Safari Explorer, through the arch, with the early morning sunlight coming in.
Kayakers, ready to go.
Terri and Sandy, enjoying the view from the top of the hike. Shortly after this, some of us ventured out to the top of the arch, which you can see in the background.
Drone shot from the morning recon.
Getting artsy with my drone. Photo of a little river valley, emptying into the sea at a white sandy beach.
Old engines and dilapidated buildings greet me at the ghost village of Unga.
This old caterpillar engine must have been the generator for the village.
I didn't find any people, or ghost in the ghost town, but I did find a herd of large cows.
Smooth conditions for kayaking and arches drawing us in. The landscape here is stunning.
Paddling through the arches.
Fischer's orchid, or key flower.
The small boats just fit through the arch.
Kayaking through sea arches. I love it!
Once we get close to the arch, we realized that there are two arches to choose from.
This is the start of our afternoon hike. We landed on the beach and then followed this picturesque river for a ways before we head up.
Hard chargers heading up the hill.
After watching some eagles fly below us from the cliff, we decided to check out the point on top of the arch.
Here is the trail heading out to the point. The view was amazing, but it was pretty nerve wracking for some of the guests.
The guests loved paddling through the sea arches.
Walking a knife's edge trail out to an amazing overlook.
I took the hard chargers over to the ghost village at the end of the afternoon for some exploration. I found this building with hundreds of empty, rusted barrels around it.
Beautiful view of endless hiking opportunities here on Unga Island.
Wide angle of the ghost village. A few buildings remain, but not much.
As always, keep traveling and keep posting!
- Dai Mar