Warren Island and Port Alexander

20150617 6755 sea otter and pup rThe last segment of the beautiful El Capitan Passage took us on a winding path through rocky islands and into Sea Otter Sound.  We saw many sea otters along the entire Passage, and we love to watch them – so adorable.  But sea otters are the enemy of fishermen since they prey so heavily on crabs and clams, and they have no natural predators to keep their numbers in check. petersburg to port alexander mapFrom Sea Otter Sound we came through a narrowing and out into the open sea – next stop: Japan.  We had calm conditions for traveling, but you know you’re in the ocean because of the swell.  We chose an anchorage on the east side of Warren Island, but the swell actually wrapped around the island and found us anyway.  We experienced the same thing in the Exumas islands in the Bahamas often – like being gently rocked, except that it doesn’t stop!

Warren Cove has a huge sandy beach which isn’t very common, so I jumped in the kayak with cameras and bear spray to do some beach combing since the tide was low.  20150615 6583 warren island beach wide rClam shells on the beach were the biggest I’ve ever seen, and I found a few other unusual shells and a glass insulator of some sort.  Sadly there was also a lot of plastic trash washed up on the beach – far more than I could hope to carry in the kayak.  Some of the trash was fishing related, and about half of that had Japanese writing on it.  20150615 6585 warren is japanese fish basket rI wish everyone could see the horror of plastic trash spoiling a pristine, remote beach.  We saw the same on the east side of many of the islands in the Exumas – so sad.  Reduce-Reuse-Recycle.  Bring your reusable bags when you shop.  Please be mindful of the environment – every little bit helps.20150616 6596 warren island beach vertical r
We had a beautiful day to head around Cape Decision, though some fog settled on the water with blue skies overhead for a while, clearing in time for us to see the lighthouse.  Cape Decision was named during the explorations of Captain George Vancouver in 1793, along with many of the other islands and points in this part of the world.  Cape Decision is where Captain Vancouver decided that he had traveled far enough north, beyond the islands claimed by Spanish explorers; today Cape Decision is a relatively narrow but important passage for ships traveling north and south in SE Alaska.

We had beautiful conditions to cross open water to the southeast tip of Baranof Island, to the tiny town of Port Alexander.  One of the floatplane pilots in Ketchikan used to live in Port Alexander and recommended that we check it out.  We found an empty spot on the state dock to tie up so we could stretch our legs, walking the boardwalks that connect the scattering of homes and small buildings that make up most of the community.20150617 6631 port alexander dock rPeople were welcoming and friendly, and we were happy to find a tiny coffee shack/cafe where we could get some lunch.  It’s always a treat to have a meal that we didn’t have to cook ourselves, no matter how simple.20150617 6632 port alexander coffee shop rWe sat with a local family, talking about school, life, and fishing.  There are about 30 people that live in the community through the winter, which can be particularly hard since the harbor is open to the southeast where most of the winter storms come from.  Boardwalks serve as the community’s streets, and there’s a school, tiny store, and post office.20150617 6656 port alexander general store r20150617 6645 port alexander post office rJust up from the coffee shop is a little wooden booth with a telephone in it – not a pay phone – just a regular phone, and a printed list of the phone numbers of everyone in town as well as some emergency and convenience numbers (Sitka hospital, seaplane service, etc.).

All along the boardwalk the berry bushes were full of berries in various stages of ripeness.20150617 6636 berries ripe and not rAnd there was plenty of cow parsnip and devil’s club – plants that are poisonous and thorny, so it wouldn’t be a good idea to venture off the boardwalk!20150617 6646 devils club do not touch rWe spoke to one lady who is a retired teacher, and she told us a bit about the school.  Teachers come from the SE Alaska Island School District which serves many of these small remote communities, and they try to hire teachers with young children to help boost the population.  There’s a newer school and gym, so the old school building is sometimes used as a dormitory for visiting teachers, or teachers who are new in town and haven’t settled in a house yet.

We enjoyed the walking and talking with people, but we had good weather to keep traveling so we left the next morning to continue up the east side of Baranof Island.20150615 6725 eagle flying 7 r

El Capitan Passage and Devilfish Bay

The map in the previous entry shows all of El Capitan Passage, and after our caving adventure we cruised ADVENTURES down to another anchorage – Devilfish Bay.  In addition to a cool-sounding name, there’s a Native legend that a gigantic devilfish rose up out of the sea and wiped out a village there, leaving behind some distinctly bad mojo.  The cruising guide also reports that group of researchers working in the bay in the mid-1970s were so overwhelmed with uneasy feelings that they had to leave.  Just in case, I made sure to wear my manta ray necklace (mantas are sometimes called “devil fish”) even though there are no manta rays in SE Alaska.  I’m not sure what constitutes a devil fish in these parts, but we didn’t want to find out the hard way!  Anything to keep the spirits happy…

20150613 6462 subalpine daisy r

 

 

The bay has a large outer basin and a large inner basin, with a tight squeeze between a large rock and a shallows from a landslide that separates the two.  We had the inner basin all to ourselves for a couple of days, and we loved the quiet beauty and great weather.

 

 

As soon as we were settled the kayak hit the water and I was off to explore.  I saw a deer on shore, and as I was shooting some photographs of him, I heard a funny snorting noise nearby.20150613 6419 deer eating rI looked around and heard the snorting again – it was a river otter.  He was not too far away from me, giving me a stink-eye, and periodically snorting and making a huffing noise.  I thought that maybe he was trying to draw me away from a den or young, so I kept drifting along (while the deer retreated into the woods)… but the otter kept up his snorting, rising up out of the water a bit with every snort.20150613 6447 otter long neck vertical rI continued my slow paddle along the shore while the otter shadowed me and snorted for about half an hour, even doing so with a fish in his mouth at one point.  Very odd… but maybe the spirit of the devilfish is living in this otter!  Fortunately we had a great time there, with no other unexplained experiences.

The bay had a nice flat beach at low tide so Jim took his little quadcopter ashore to practice flying.20150613 6474 jim flying drone adventures rThis one is pretty tiny – a good one to practice learning to fly before graduating to something large enough to carry a GoPro camera later on.  With only 7 minutes of flying time per battery practice didn’t last long enough, but not before he managed to fly it into the woods and we had to do a bit of looking.  Jim recovered the drone with only a nick in one of the propellers, and now that we’re in civilization we’ve ordered a few more batteries for it.

We left Devilfish Bay hoping to return again, but it was time to press on to new adventures.  Cruising through the lower part of El Capitan Passage makes me think of a shattered windshield – that’s what the chart looks like with hundreds of little islands, nooks and crannies.  It’s very rocky and beautiful.20150613 6530 el capitan pass rocks rAlthough the area is very remote, there are a few pockets of homes in odd places.  Prince of Wales Island has been logged much more than other islands in the region, and there are at least 200 miles of logging roads connecting the few villages and small towns to some of these little outpost communities.  Sarkar Cove was our next anchorage, and it had a handful of houses and a fishing lodge – which seemed strange in such an isolated spot.

We anchored near a creek that led to a lake, only accessible at high tide – at low tide it’s a rapids.  It was fun to sit in an eddy in the rapids with the kayak and watch the many eagles fishing and flying around.20150614 6509 young eagle flying r20150614 6491 eagle 4 rWe took the dinghy over to see if we might be able to have dinner at the fishing lodge.  The El Capitan Lodge is a beautiful facility, and the manager came out on the dock to welcome us and give us a little information about the place.  It’s a very active operation, with about 6-7 small boats, each with a captain and fishing guide that headed out with guests early every morning to try their luck at catching salmon and halibut.  The lodge has their own float plane to ferry guests and supplies in, as well as a fish processing shed where each day’s catch is cleaned, vacuum packed, and flash frozen for the guests.  Sadly they couldn’t accommodate us for dinner in their dining hall, but we were able to look around the property and appreciate the beautiful setting and well-maintained buildings.  If anyone would like that kind of experience, we would highly recommend the El Capitan Lodge.

Sitting closer to the open ocean (to the west) and on an island with smaller mountains, we were able to enjoy a rare sunset.  In Petersburg the mountains around us are too tall to see the sunset; after spending so much time in the Florida Keys and Bahamas we’re used to seeing one every night, so seeing a sunset now is extra-special.  20150614 6553 sarkar sunset 5 r