You gotta be prepared for anything when you go on adventures with UnCruise. This was on a kayak I was leading, but we stopped at this waterfall for some fun photos and a little rock climbing.
After our day of glaciers in Kenai Fjords National Park, our inaugural expedition cruise onboard the Safari Explorer took us across the Shelikof Strait to Kodiak Island. We pulled into Foul Bay early in the morning with hopes of exploring by kayak, skiff, and hiking. However the weather tried its best to thwart our plans. Where we anchored was about 25knot sustained winds, with some sideways rain to go with it. However, this is UnCruise, so we came up with a plan to make it all still happen.
We tied off our kayaks to one of the small boats, and towed them ashore to a rocky beach. The coastline blocked us from most of the wind, so we loaded up and shoved off from the beach. Success! We ended up finding waterfalls, ponds filled with mergansers, eagles in the trees, arctic terns and puffins along our 4 mile kayak.
Then in the afternoon we got boots on the ground. I led an intertidal shorewalk and forest poke. We had a fox visit us on the beach, and found hundreds of sea stars in the tide pools. When we poked into the forest we found evidence of recent bear activity with a steaming pile of bear scat and some hot tracks. Hot tracks are like a calling card for all the bears in the area. They step in the same tracks, year and year, leaving their scent for other bears to know who is around.
We had so much fun in the forest that some of us decided to continue deeper, bushwhack style. We climbed through the forest and found huge spruce trees and a moss covered forest floor. It was a good sample for everyone to know what a bushwhack with me was like.
These are brown bear hot tracks. Over the years, bears will come and step in these same tracks, leaving their scent for other bears to know they were there.
Towing the kayaks to the beach, to get our of the 25 knot winds. We accidentally submarined this orange one seconds after this photo. All ended well though, and a great paddle was had by all.
Team kayak, our first activity on Kodiak Island, dressed for the wilds of Alaska, waterproof from head to toe, and not deterred by a little windstorm coming through.
Finding some tropical looking water, in frigid Alaska.
It was tough to keep the camera dry today, but we explored every nook and cranny that we could on our 4 mile paddle around Foul Bay, Kodiak.
Look at these calm conditions! You would never know it was blasting white caps just off to the left of us. We hugged the coast, and only had a few times where we really had to paddle into the wind. But when we turned and rode the wind back to the boat, we flew!
I do love kayaking up to waterfalls...and there are a lot of waterfalls in flowing out of the dense rainforest of Alaska.
Conical mountains provide the background as we pull into Kodiak Island.
A peek-a-boo view of the Safari Explorer, breaking new ground on day 3 of our new Aleutian Islands itinerary.
Low tide uncovers some intertidal secrets. These are ochre sea stars, clinging to the mussel covered rocks, feasting even now, completely out of the water.
Exploring the secrets of Kodiak Island's intertidal zone.
Venturing into the coastal forest, we quickly found a bear highway, with some very recent evidence that a big Kodiak bear had been there... steaming poop.
After poking into the forest, I asked if anyone wanted to push farther, bushwhack style. All these folks took me up on the challenge. We pushed through some spikey devil's club plants, but then climbed into this beautiful spruce forest.
Whenever I find little streams like this, I wonder if there might be gold in there.
Sometimes you need a little hand on a bushwhack adventure. It's all part of the bonding experience when you travel on expedition cruises.
We poked around the beach for a little intertidal low tide exploring, and found this leather sea star.
Panorama of me next to a waterfall, tumbling out of the forest, while our kayaks avoid the blasting wind just offshore.
