Alaska, Day 6: Fox Island, Professional Disaster, Fishing for Jellies

Day 6 started with a late wake-up: the first time on the trip after 6am.  It was so cozy in the yurt, although I'm the only one who thought so.  I love it hot, and "possibly turned up the heat."  Everyone else roasted while I snoozed away in comfort--the first time I was warm on the trip!

That morning, we cooked up a breakfast and headed out for a long day of kayaking.  We kayaked toward Hat Island (a name I could never get right--I referred to it as Head Island) and saw several seals.  We banked at spit on Fox Island where we saw an eagle family, including a nest.

 Fox Island and Head Island:

 Walking around on the busted toe at Fox Island spit:

 Julie was an all-star for Team Varney and spotted all kinds of sea life.

 We kayaked around Fox Island to Halibut Cove, where we saw Puffins and a quaint waterfall.  We also saw 2 humpbacks in the bay.  Brady and I took off after them for a few minutes, until we realized what a futile effort it was to race against whales!  The scenery throughout the bay was exactly what I wanted from our trip time on the water--remote and peaceful, and huge. 

The coolest part of this trip for me was having a bald eagle swoop directly overhead while we were in the middle of the ocean.

We saw an old army bunker on our way to Orca Island via "Seascape," so we headed that direction next.  At this point, we had kayaked about 7 hours and we were a little achy.  I stretched my back, and Brady followed suit.  RIP our brand new GoPro (an above and underwater video camera).  The water is so clear, and we watched it sink to its watery grave, too far away to do a thing about it.  Oh, sigh.

 Aaron had a tow line the entire journey, and it turns out he caught something!

 A few more shots from Orca Island:

We came back to the yurts and Aaron took the plunge:

The boys had so much success fishing the night before, they took us out that night.  Julie did not care that much about this event, but went along with the group.  She cast her pole 6 times and caught fish 3 of those times.

 I cast my pole a hundred times and caught a jellyfish.

Operation Let's-Get-Karen-to-Catch-a-Fish-So-We-All-Can-Finally-Go-Eat-Dinner went into effect.  I was going a little psycho, which I know is hard to imagine given my laid-back, easy-does-it personality.

Finally, I caught a fish.  I wanted to do the whole process from finish to end, so I started by whacking it to give it a quick death.  Apparently, I need to practice spanking or something because it took 4 whacks with the club and the poor thing was still alive.  Aaron finally saved it more agony by bleeding him out.  Then, I got to do the rest--gutting him all the way to eating him (definitely not as tasty as a salmon).

Dennis came out to the dock while we were cleaning up the fish and said, "I heard some shouts when you were fishing.  Did somebody catch a salmon?"  We had to show him my sorry little fish.

Combined with the fish was our sorry little fire, that just didn't want to stay lit long enough to cook our fish.  The rain and cold weather made for not-quite-idyllic campfire conditions (but you know it got hot enough to roast a couple marshmallows).

Ah...kicking back for a few minutes while we ate.

River Otters:

Day 6 Totals:
Kayaked:  14-15 miles, 7+ hour trip (Aaron has a GPS so our totals are pretty accurate)
Wildlife:  Harbor seal and harbor porpoises in cove early am, 4 harbor seals at Hat Island, Eagle family at Fox Island, puffins, other seabirds, 2 humpback whales, bald eagle swoop, eagle chirps
Credit Card Points Wasted at the Bottom of the Ocean: 40,000