Sea Kayaking in the Prince William Sound

Sorry folks no pics today. Such is life when you spend two days in a sea kayak in the pouring rain and blowing winds. Dave and I guided two clients on a trip around Blackstone Bay. This was the first experience I would have spending significant time out on the water in a sea kayak. I was extremely excited and ready to assist Dave in anyway I could. Alas, the trip was in fact the trip from hell. It began well enough; Dave and I were totally dialed. Food bags packed, gear checked and personal gear ready to go, or so we thought. After we arrived in Whittier, at the kayak center, Dave realized that we had in fact forgotten the food bags. Tina, taking it very well, scooped up Dave and made an emergency shop at the local grocery store. No skin off our backs...

Thinking that we had narrowly averted a disaster, we finished loading gear and were ready to go. As mentioned before, we were in the middle of what felt like an epic monsoon and due to windy conditions, we had to take our water taxi to our original pickup point. We were essentially running the route backwards. Having been dropped off, we scurried into the water. Unfortunately our clients were little sissies and suffered from soar wrists after a mere hour of paddling. So much for seeing glaciers calving. It only gets better, our Coleman stove broke and we had to resort to an MSR stove ( not nearly large enough). By noon the next day, Sam gave Dave and me authority to get them out by any means possible. Money was no object. As mentioned before, these men did not have nerves of steel. Wet layers and cold did not seem to compute it there was no immediate reward. Thank goodness we found a boat to taxi us back, and as a thank you, the clients bought us a huge dinner and pitchers in Girdwood.

I am happy to be warm and dry and back at the glacier. According to Don, I am very close to being checked off and will be able to lead my own treks. I am excited, feeling healthy, and beginning to make plans for after the season. Patagonia anyone?