South OZ Adventurers - Adventure, Travel, Expeditions


Pelican to Sitka

After a day off in Pelican we desperately needed a day off from our day off! Luckily for us 18Nm away is White Sulfur Hot Springs. All the locals had told us this was a place not to be missed. So taking local advice we decided to head there.

We left Pelican after 5 that afternoon, heading out through Lizianski Strait to the open ocean. Reaching the Pacific around 10 it was starting to get dark and we pulled into the wrong bay some time around 11:30 thinking that we could see a cabin there. After a rather wet sleep on a small little island in the bay, away from the bears, we got up early and paddled the 1 and a half Nm to White Sulfur. There it was a very relaxing day and a half soaking in the natural springs, as well as the bath house, chatting to the varying boaters who passed through.

Luckily in the afternoon of the 7th a couple arrived who had booked the cabin. While this might not sound like a lucky thing, it meant that we actually left, otherwise we would have both been happy to spend another night.

And so it was back out onto the water and into our boats. Heading down the coast towards Sitka. After only an hour of beautiful paddling through a cluster of low lying barrier islands the blue skies we had been basking in clouded over and we were hit with a freezing downpour, how I wished we could have been back in that bathhouse. So we stopped. And set up camp.

With our bear paranioa having been fed in Pelican by the locals we continued our policy of camping on islands, still in the belief that we were safe because a bear wouldn't want to swim the 50 metres out there simp[ly to eat us (although so far it has been a successful policy!).

It was a pleasure to wake up the next morning to clear skies and sunshine, which allowed us to dry out our wet clothes from the night before. The day was spent weaving our way through the islands, and trying to take photos of the sea otters who are making a come back to the area, after been hunted to near extinction 100 years ago.

The day concluded with a 6Nm of exposed coastline. This weas something that we had been warned about by both locals and guide books, however they were either both on the conservative side, or we simply hit it on a good day. With only a mild 3 metre swell running we enjoyed the energy of the open ocean again. Camping just south of Khaz's head.

The ninth of July saw us making for an stretch of water called dry pass. It is know as this because it can only be navigated at high water, and then only in a canoe or kayak. So it was with more islands to weave through we managed to make this interesting piece of water right on high, and camped in a cabin just the other side, where we were devoured by noseeums, and scared by a mangy looking bear on the other side of the pass from us.

With only about 10 Nm into Sitka it was a nice morning paddle into town. After about an hour something happened, which i knew would, but had been dreading. We ran out of conversation. So I did the only thing I could think of, taking advice from one of the characters from 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' I proposed! Although Kim did reject the offer, proably a good thing, it at least gave us something to talk about until we made it into Sitka, which was the Russian capital of Alaska.