Kuiu – Tebenkof Bay

Tebenkof Bay is a big place with a number of smaller bays, creeks and anchorages to explore. We checked out a few spots at the end of last summer, and added a few more to our list this time… but we left plenty of spots to investigate some other time. There’s just never enough days and weeks to explore all that we’d like.

Fortunately, the trend of seeing lots of bears continued.

The first morning in a new anchorage was a three-bear bonanza. I watched two of them while drinking my coffee, then I decided to jump in the kayak and get a closer look.

This bear (above) was more skittish than the others, and as I drifted in the kayak he suddenly decided that he didn’t like having me around.

In the meantime, the first bear (the one reflected in the water in the first photo) meandered back into the forest, but I spotted a third bear turning over rocks a little farther away. This one looked like an old bear – its face was gray and it was a little skinny compared to others I’ve seen.

Sitka blacktailed deer were plentiful too – bedding down in the grass or walking around and watching me paddle.

We’ve had so much rain all summer and it has been very overcast much of the time, but on this day the wind was feather light and the sky was gorgeous. We savor every day we can spend out here in nature, but we really appreciate the pretty days.

A friend was in the area, and he needed to check on a cabin that his friend was building on a small island nearby, so we jumped into his skiff and had a fun ride zipping among the little islets. The cabin is new, but the site had some older buildings from a past owner that were neat to see, as well as a skull from a medium sized marine mammal of some sort.

It was a perfectly protected spot from the weather in any direction, with lovely views out the channels.

Our friend left us back at our boat, and by then it was time to start heading back towards town so we could re-provision for the next jaunt. Once again, a pod of Dall’s porpoise graced us with their acrobatics and amazing speed. You don’t see them as much as you see their rooster-tail splashes!

2 thoughts on “Kuiu – Tebenkof Bay

  1. Wow
    I just found this fantastic post on your adventures in the bay of pillars, and It looks like you were able to spend some great time with alan and Juno at his house. What a great experience you guys are sharing on your website.

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