Varney Yarns: Alaska, Day 6: Kayaking Fools, Sea Life, Fish, and a Sad, Sad Mistake

The beds at Orca Island were so comfortable that we ended up sleeping in until 8:00 am the next morning. We planned for this day to be spent all on the water. It was the perfect day for it. It wasn’t raining, and the water in the cove as well as in the open bay was glassy. After breakfast we headed down to the kayaks, got geared up, and headed off to explore Fox Island, an island out on Resurrection Bay. On the way over we passed by Hat Island, where we saw a little seal family hanging out on the rocks. We slowly headed over to get a closer look, but they didn’t want to be observed. They hopped in the water, poked their heads up a few times to look around, and then they were gone. We continued on our way to Fox Island, where we stopped for a bit, ate a snack, and spotted a bald eagle family as well as their nest (2 adults and a juvenile).

Panorama from Fox Island

Next we made the decision to get back in the kayaks and continue around Fox Island, exploring the coastline while making our way over to a cove on the other side of the island. It was a beautiful paddle around Fox Island and we saw many little sea birds, including our first puffins, sea caves, and waterfalls. We made it to Halibut Cove where we stopped, had lunch, watched the puffins, skipped rocks, and chased seagulls. On our way out to the open water we spotted a couple of humpback whales. They were quite a ways out in the bay so Julie and I just continued our course along the coastline, but Brady and Karen took off to see if they could get closer. There was a little river otter on our route that must not have liked that we were paying so much attention to the whales because he popped his head out of the water directly in front of our kayak and checked us out for a bit.

We then headed off into the bay to take a closer look at an old WWII army bunker. It was on this paddle through the open water that a very, very sad thing happened. Brady, to relieve some low back pain, stopped paddling, and leaned back in the kayak for a long stretch. Part of the stretch included extending his neck all the way back. Unfortunately, that little motion was just enough to push his brand new GoPro camera off the top of his head and into the depths of Resurrection Bay. They were going too fast to grab it. Julie and I paddled up as fast as we could only to see it one last time before it disappeared into the depths, and continued its path 1,000 feet down to the bottom of Resurrection Bay. This certainly dampened the mood for awhile not only because it was a brand new, expensive toy, but also because it had some sweet video on it, that now only the bottom feeder fish will be able to enjoy. After the sting of the loss subsided (somewhat), we made it to the army bunker, checked it out, and then headed back to the yurts. We were exhausted. 14-15 miles of kayaking will do that to you.

My view from the back of the kayak. Good thing Julie has a beautiful head:)

I rigged up a fishing pole to troll while we kayaked. I had a long shot hope that a salmon would tag my lure while we were paddling around. We had been going almost all day when we stopped and Brady asked what I had on the end of my line. I didn't feel anything, so I said, "nothing." He said, "I just watched your line go underneath your kayak." I reeled it in, and found this little guy on the end of my line. Not a rockfish and didn't look like good eats, so he got to go back and see his family. Though I don't know how long I had been pulling him through the bay.

One of the many coastal sea caves.

Well...the fish was so good from the previous night, that we decided to have fish again for dinner. (And this time I couldn’t resist jumping in the water off the dock ramp before fishing. The water was quite cold, but refreshing as well).

This time, all four of us went out on the row boat. Karen’s goal was to cast, catch, knock out, clean, prepare, cook, and eat a fish--everything from start to finish. Well, what we determined is that if you want to catch a fish you must have an indifferent attitude, a la Julie. Julie would let me fish for a while, get bored, ask to cast, would cast out, and would promptly reel in a fish. Karen was so anxious to catch a fish. She had many a bite, but lost all of them until finally she reeled one in. She stayed true to her word and bashed that fish in the head, ran a knife up its gullet, cleaned him out, and ate him.

Karen's first fish was a jelly fish.

Just baffled by all the fish she was catching.

Bashing fish heads is not as easy as it looks.

Karen cleaning her first fish. I was quite impressed with her ambition. She dove right into that fish.

We did our best to cook over an open fire that night, since it wasn’t raining, but the ground and wood were pretty wet, and we had a difficult time keeping the fire going. We ended up cooking the vegetables in the fire and grilling the fish on a propane grill. A light rain began towards the end of our meal, and we decided it was time to head in. Some Oreos greeted us at the yurt for dessert, and we were content. Fell asleep around midnight.