Day 14: July 4, 2009

We slept this morning until 8am and awoke for our final breakfast on board.  After filling up on pancakes and bacon, we split into two groups.  One group paddled the kayaks toward Whale Pass while the other group visited a nearby cannery.  The kayakers enjoyed the wildlife on the water, and we spent some time watching a tide rip in the middle of Kuprianov Strait.  (A tide rip is a section of water where the current moves quickly.)  We could see the rip from a distance, and as we paddled closer to it, we could hear just how quickly the water was moving.  It was pretty impressive, as the water sounded like river rapids, but it was flowing through the ocean strait.  We watched as a group of gulls took advantage of the current.  They'd fly to an upstream spot in the rip, drift several hundred meters with the current and feed on small fish as they drifted, then fly back to the beginning of the rip and drift down again.  The paddlers eventually pulled out at a beach in Whale Pass, and the Island C came to pick them up.  The other group spent about two hours at the cannery, where our deckhand Emily played guitar with Gus.     

After loading the boat, we set our course and headed back to Kodiak.  The return trip took about six hours, and we passed the time watching the wildlife and scenery, enjoying the sunshine on the decks, fishing, and watching episodes of Scrubs.  After arriving Kodiak Harbor, we unloaded the boat and bid farewell to the crew.  We saw this week that life on a boat presents some interesting  challenges.  There are plenty of places in the archipelago where the water is too shallow for the Island C, and there are also plenty of places where there aren't docks to use.  So we'd anchor the boat in a deep bay or cove and then shuttle around in the skiffs.  We also needed to adjust to the gentle rocking of the ship, and we took sea showers to focus on water and energy conservation, as well.  The boat itself was pretty incredible: with a fuel capacity of 15000 gallons, the Island C could easily sail from Kodiak to Seattle without needing to refuel.  It could store almost that much freshwater, as well, and it had no problem accommodating the 16 of us.  There was also plenty of space for us to store all the debris we found -- it was the ideal vessel for this part of our voyage.    

And the language on a boat is wonderful, too: port, starboard, windward, leeward, galley, head, gangway, wheelhouse, helm, boom, winch, skiff, hawser, cleat, gaf...saying any of these words with a gentle spray in your face makes you feel like a genuine mariner.  

We finished the evening with dinner at Henry's Restaurant and a birthday celebration for Emily.  We had burgers and cheesesteaks for dinner, and Betsy (Andy's girlfriend) brought a Cupcake Cake for dessert.  Back at Andy's, we unloaded our gear, did a bit of laundry, and prepared to travel to Camp Island.  Click below for today's photos.

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