Try doing Prince William Sound by kayak is the response that I give to my friends that talk about their cruise ship journey to Alaska.
We did see a few cruise ships slinking by as we kept paddling or looked from the beach at our then current rest stop, but could only wave from a distance. In fact, those ships were the only other signs of humans that we saw during our seven days of paddling about 75 miles. As mentioned on another page, we were invited to join our friends on the kayak trip shortly after the 9/11 tragedy. Mike previously gave Sierra Club members tours via kayak in the Sound, but few people had signed up for the tours in 2002–a perfect time for our family to venture to Alaska.
Mike and Sharon’s oldest daughter drove us from their home in Anchorage to the village of Whittier. We asked her to return to Whittier for a pickup in seven days, so we had seven days to make the journey. The original plan was for us to be taken by the ferry to be let off at a small town about 60 miles away, but Sharon informed Mike that the place he had in mind was destroyed by the big earthquake in 1964, or perhaps another one that occurred later. In any case, we ended up being let off on Evans Island so had to do the extra 15 miles in the same time originally scheduled. No cell phones, or any way to contact the daughter for a later pickup.
We had our family of four, and the MacFadyan group of three in four Feathercraft Kayaks.
These kayaks were works of art–made with molybdenum frames at a significant cost. Not only did we have ourselves to propel, but all of our tents, camping gear and food to last a week. The Prince William Sound is loaded with small islands where we could stop for a meal, or a necessity break. Mike also neglected to tell us that he had just had shoulder surgery so was not able to paddle at normal strength. Most of the time our son Devin or daughter Kyla joined Mike in a kayak to paddle along with weakened Mike. Remember that Prince William Sound is a part of the ocean, so once in awhile we would island hop over rough seas.
During at l
east one crossing, I wished for a helicopter to swoop down and miraculously remove me from the water–especially since the waves were going over the kayak. In one of the coves we wandered into, there were whales breaching all around us. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera available during the crossings, because it would get in the way of paddling, and might have been dropped in the sea. All we could do was watch the whales and other wildlife that we saw while paddling. I don’t think that I will ever be so in touch with nature as I was then. As dusk approached each evening we would begin to search for an island where we could stop to make dinner, and pitch our tents. One major problem was that the tides rose as much as 13 feet while we were sleeping. On one occasion, we were assured that there would be no problem with our particular camp. We woke up at about midnight to find that the water had crept up to inches from our tent. It was still light outside at midnight so we picked up our tent and moved it to an available spot near a swamp, but away from the rising tide that would have left us about two feet under water had we stayed.
The slide show below the map will give you an idea of what our trip was like–enjoy!
The map below roughly indicates the kayak trip that we took from Evans Island back to Whittier.
