[Paddlewise] Alaska slide show

We've just returned today from a week of kayaking along the coast of the
Chichagof wilderness in Southeast Alaska, and Dave, for all his local
knowledge, certainly didn't forecast it right for this week.

Four of us chartered the Home Shore, a 60 foot purse seiner fishing boat, to
use as a mother ship (www.homeshore.com) for a week of kayaking and hiking,
and we had perfect weather and a perfect time.  Every day but two was
sun-block bright, warm and sunny, with gentle winds.  The one windy day had
winds from the SE, so the waves stayed down outside. Inside,  behind the
islands and on the bights and bays, the water was still mirror glass still.
The one rainy day we had, we chose not to kayak, and instead motored up an
inlet to watch two adult, one juvenile, and two cub brown bears hanging out
on the beach.

(It was great being able to sleep on the Home Shore instead of camping on
that beach! The mothership approach kept us warm, dry, well fed with gourmet
meals, and educated with tons of local knowledge by Jim and Ben Kyle and
Erin Dollar. We could paddle, or not, and pick our spots to boot.)

Between the Home Shore and their kayaks, we saw not only bears but whales
and porpoises and seals and puffins and otter and sea lion, all in
mountainscape and seascape setting of astounding beauty.

Yes the water was a cold 50 degrees,  and perhaps we hit a lucky week.
Having the Home Shore as a base camp instead of a soggy beach certainly made
a difference.
But the Southeast Alaska the we saw was a paddling heaven.

Lewis
Lincroft, NJ, which today is rainy, cloudy, dreary, depressing..:)

> Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 10:50:14 -0800
> From: David Seng <David_at_wainet.com>
> Subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Alaska slide show
>  ... Southeast Alaska is a rainy, cloudy, rainy, dreary, rainy, depressing
area with constant cold winds, seas that never get  warm, and marauding
bears that make camping a veritable nightmare.  ;-)
>   Enjoy the slide show - Southeast really is an incredibly beautiful
place.
> Dave Seng
> Juneau, Alaska


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