They are three Italian men, I am one Dutch woman, the deal is quickly made. We will go on a sea kayak trip on the Prince William Sound together. Its safer to go with a group than alone, which was my first plan, but these guys are maybe too hardcore for me, Seven summits, mountain guides.... They acclimated and topped out on the normal route of Denali, but had to come down before they could even try the Cassin Ridge due to bad weather forecast. Now the plan is to do a 5 day trip, 120km in total, to Harriman Fjord and that is far, very far. Besides my kayak (yes, I am the proud owner of a kayak now), we take a single and a double with us. I like the idea of the double, because which woman is not dreaming of being paddled around by a singing Italian.
The first day all is good. The weather is sunny, the water is flat, the channel crossing goes smooth and we all enjoy the surrounding and the movement of the kayaks. We camp in a little cove and eat our food near the campfire.
The next day, with more then 6 hrs of paddling in front of us, with wind and rain, I am glad I can start of in the double with F. We have a nice rhythm and sometimes have to wait for C and M. In the afternoon I switch back to my own kayak. It feels more natural, because the kayak is lower and less wide, and my strokes come out better. I can easily keep up with the double, but when we arrive at camp I can feel the day of work behind me. This is however Alaska and hard work always gets rewarded. We camp right below Cox glacier, Cascade glacier is just across the bay, and the Barry tidewater glacier is to our right.
The whole night we hear the glaciers cracking and ice falling into the water from the Barry glacier. We wake up with big pieces of ice on the beach left behind by the tide.
When the sun breaks through the clouds, we hit the water and paddle through seals and pieces of ice. This is to unreal to be true.
With many many kilometers ahead of us for the way back, we have to keep moving. I feel sad to leave all this behind and I am also getting more and more tired. The guys have to wait here and there for me.
Luckily we can inhabit a cabin in the night and I prepare my own food on the wood stove. I wake up tired and my tolerance to loud Italians is a bit down. As I pack my kayak alone, I suddenly see a bear popping out of the woods just on the other side of the little channel from me. My first bear in Alaska!
This and the sun will make my day as we have to paddle far. Nevertheless in the afternoon when the wind picks up again there is not much to keep me happy. Also this night I have to prepare my own food, and my mood goes down to a low point. Only so far for the Italian men.
The next day I am however offered the double. And with a strong paddling F in the back (these guys are hardcore and keep going) the way back goes smooth and quick. My happy me comes back again, we try how fast we can get the double and I start smiling and liking them again.
Even so its good to see the Oto again because my face has changed in these 5 days. I am salty, tired, my wrist is developing tendonitis and I live for sure on a different wave length then these guys. I drive back alone. Its good to be home again with V and A, real Alaskan men.
Dag,
Iris (Whittier, 6933 miles)
