We had a long breakfast. This was the day Karianne and Erling would paddle on but Mikko would stay behind to fly back to Finland. This was as planned. Karianne and Erling had put in a couple of extra days for any kayak logistics back to Haines, but now that Joe Osterling has fixed drop off both in Gustavus and Juneau, we will use those extra days to paddle the 125 or so km to Juneau
Eventually it was not possible to postpone the departure any longer At least not if we were to avoid atrocious head currents as we paddled onward. Some last big hugs and Mikko pushed our kayaks out. Mikko has been the organiser and the person to know his way and the nature around here, it will be a different trip without him.
It started splendidly! Sun shining, 20 plus degrees, no dey suits for once. After an hour or so a big humpback jumped out of the water a couple of hundred meters behind us and landed with a big splash, and again, and again, and again. The whale also sang it guttural song and several times splashed it is tail in quick succession. While the jumping and landing sound more like thunder or a cannon, the tail flipping sounds more like a gun shot. Eventually the whale disappeared toward Bartlett Cove. She/he clearly had something to communicate and it was easier to interpret it as agitation than joy, but what do we know?
We paddled on, sneaking along the beach to avoid head currents. We heard another whale repeatedly jumping in the fra distance. We could not locate it. By the time the sound reached us the splash was gone. A lot of agitation in the humpback community today we thought.
After about three hours paddling we finally approached the ferry jetty in Gustavus. Time to think about a lunch break. Again we heard the sound of gunshot ahead. Another humpback we thought.
The jetty was not a particularly inviting place and just half an hours paddling across a sound we saw sunny beaches on Pleasant Island. Easy choice.
As we got to the beach we were greeted by a raven that only reluctantly moved on. We should have taken the hint. But after almost four hours and 22 km in the kayak, we were eager to get some food. We did a quick inspection anyway, no bear signs and no carcass to explain the ravens behaviour. We set up the stove and got ready to cook lunch.
Only then did we become aware of something drifting slowly toward the beach. Erling waded out to investigate. It was four fleeced sea otter carcasses. The gun shot sound we heard might have been just that -a gunshot?
To us this was both shocking and disgusting. We lost our appetite. And even if we were a bit fatigued we just had to paddle on for another five km to where we had planned to stop for the day.
Now we were both tired, hungry and a bit upset. So no time for decisions. First a big helping of spagetti.
The landscape/seascape between Gustavus and Juneau is such that we had to have at least one long paddling day. Well fed and comfortable in the sunshine we decided to take the good conditions while we had them and paddle on.
We set course toward a set of small islands. Pleasant island had exactly not lived up to its name. And we learned from the “hyttebok” back in the hot springs that bears may come to associate hunting with food and therefore humans with food. Just the thought would make for a bad night’s sleep.
We were in luck, or so we thought. We found a steep pebble beach, a perfect beach to both land on and launch from. We hoped the “bear inspection” would be a formality.
But no. There were tracks. Too big to be explained away as washed out deer tracks. When we followed than we found another fleeced sea otter carcass. And more tracks that we interpreted as one big and two smaller bears. A bear sow with two cubs likely “owned” this carcass. We had no plans to contest that ownership.
But we were in a bit of a bind. The sun was setting it would soon become dusk. We had already paddled 41 km and if we did not stay on this island there was at least an 10 km crossing before we could start looking for another spot and by then it would be getting dark. In short we needed to find a place on this island, just as far from the carcass as possible.
We paddled on for about 1 km and to the last beach of the island. It was also a good one and bigger which means more space for man and beast to stay clear of each other. 1 km isn’t a long walk for a bear family, but we looked at the bright side: they would be busy with their carcass (?)
We set up camp, set our alarms and lit a campfire to boot. We had done what we could, then take bear spray, flares, alarm torch and knife and get in the tents to get some sleep.
And eventful and a bit disturbing day. Slumbering off the thoughts spun a little. They kill sea otters for their skin! How can they? But on reflection and watching how people live around here, we should probably not be haughty about it. Whoever did the killing probably leaves less of an environmental footprint than we do. And as for animal welfare, whoever shops meat in an Oslo grocery store is not in a position to moralise.
And wasn’t our much admired Aleutian baidarka paddlers sea otter hunters?
Still it is sad and depressing, the sea otters have been a steady presence for three weeks, they feel like friends by now. Maybe even role models; curious, caring and great at enjoying life floating on their backs.
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