Venture to the Aleutians. Kodiak to Sitka

the best views over the city of Kodiak are from the top of pillar Mountain nestled at its foot the airport is vulnerable to bad weather there are several roads leading out of town although they ultimately all dead end they run further than most roads in this part of the world we take a drive and encounter a herd of buffalo and this rather beautiful fox who is reluctant to move off the road we passed the aerospace launch complex this sign means what it says we later learn that a few months earlier a rogue rocket had to be destroyed four seconds after takeoff leaving quite a mess we explore fossil beach we don't find any fossils but the tortured landscape with its jumble of fractured rocks is clear evidence of Kodiaks violent volcanic heritage few outside this area including ourselves are aware of the cataclysmic eruption which occurred on the Katmai Peninsula in 1912 novarupta was 10 times stronger than the eruption of Mount Helens seen here on the left of this diagram and injected twice as much matter as the 1883 explosion of Krakatoa the city of Kodiak was smothered in a cloud of ash so dense a lantern held at arm's length could not be seen in places the ash was head high following the eruption thousands of steaming fumaroles created what came to be known as the valley of ten thousand smokes even today ash can clearly be seen on the mountain slopes and Katmai on Good Friday 1964 Alaska was struck by a monster earthquake generating huge tsunamis which caused widespread destruction in Kodiak everything below the orange line in this picture was devastated vital fish processing facilities were wiped out so a world war two liberty ship was brought out of retirement to act as a temporary processing plant it still serves that purpose today in 1989 exactly 25 years later also on Good Friday Kodiak suffered another calamity when the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound this disaster devastated the fishing industry upon which Kodiak depends for its survival determined not to allow our problem with the windless to deprive us of another bear encounter we take a charter flight down to the southern end of the island at the Seahawk facility we are kitted out in thigh length waders before boarding our float plane our pilot takes us down the East Coast over three Saints Bay the view from the air emphasizes the ruggedness of the shoreline it is certainly not one you want to bump into on a dark night we fly over some of the same areas we had traversed by boat and onto dog salmon Creek and Fraser Lake where we land and wade ashore to reach the fish pass we need to hike about 3/4 of a mile along a muddy track which the judge from this footprint is also a bear Highway until the fish ladder was constructed in 1962 salmon were backpacked individually one at a time passed the Falls and into the lake to mother bears each with two cubs are trying their best to snag salmon with limited success actually the mother is doing all the hard work while the Cubs prefer the salad bar the scruffy-looking male caused family groups to keep well clear of him but he will be chilly in the winter unless he acquires a better coat all fish coming up into the lake are monitored and counted close to 1/2 million salmon from Fraser Lake contribute to the overall harvest in this area we returned to Kodiak along the west coast of the island we passed deep fjords notorious for their fierce katabatic winds known as Willy Wars skirt high mountains and magnificent scenery flight provides a unique overview of this rugged island back in Kodiak the wind is blowing and the rain arrives just in time to interfere with the installation of the new motor which has been flown up from Vancouver Island the next morning we take on twelve hundred and eighty-five gallons of diesel at one of the fuel docks with our tanks full we bid farewell to Kodiak but being still ahead of schedule and with a favorable weather window coming up we take time to visit the islands just to the north of the main island we pull into suppose obey on a fog Nick island much to the annoyance of this very vocal sea otter who objects to our presence this rocky outcrop teams with wildlife including seals tufted puffins and kittiwakes we you next take the big tender up a shallow River we go ashore and hike beneath trees draped with primordial moss along the trail we see wild roses and horse tail plows described as living fossils unchanged for millions of years we fortify ourselves with salmonberries we meet Jen at the where where she and her partner count returning sockeye salmon even removing individual scales which like tree rings can be used to determine the age of the fish for which they came fireweed is just starting to bloom heralding the end of summer from here our route takes us across the very heart of the Gulf of Alaska for such an exposed ocean crossing a suitable weather window is imperative we arise early and secure the galley for sea making good use of our multi-purpose potholders at 5:00 a.m. under a beautiful dawn we forsake the land and strike out directly across the Gulf to Sitka five hundred and sixty nautical miles distant the day closes with a glorious sunset we are a hundred and fifty miles from the nearest land but consisting entirely of remote and rugged islands not the sort of land to which you would want to get you close we run watches of two hours on and six hours off following seas make for a comfortable ride aboard venture with her heart chimes and long keel we make landfall and Salisbury Sound on the mainland an anchor in sukhoi inlet at noon on the second day having covered 560 nautical miles after 55 hours 34 minutes underway we decide not to head directly to Sitka but passed down neva Strait and through white stone narrows into de Graaf Bay for our second night overnight the rain departs and we make our way to the offshore santol as areia islands home to over half a million breeding seabirds prominent man Edgecomb is totally devoid of snow as are all the mountains this year we anchor in an unnamed Bay on the south side of mcgoun Island and used the tender to explore nooks and crannies finally it is time for us to make our way to Sitka although the area had been settled by the string it for thousands of years the present town was founded by the Russians in 1804 with the name of new Archangel when purchased by the US in 1867 it was renamed and until 1906 was a state capital ventia looks quite at home between two working boats it will take another ten days to cover the remaining 600 miles to our starting point on Vancouver Island when we finally arrive we will have covered 5,000 nautical miles over a period of four you

Channel: Fleming Yachts

Views: 66,581

Keywords: Alaska, Aleutians, Sitka, Kodiak, Volcanoes, Bears, Crusing, Fleming, adventure, Venture

Id: j5E1pxrJ4M0

Length: 18min 8sec (1088 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 27 2015