It might be good to explain what the Alaska Marine Highway is, as it appears on some of these pages. No, it isn’t an actual highway in the water. Instead, it is a ferry service operated by the state of Alaska. It has 5,600 km (3,500 miles) of routes with 32 terminals throughout Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington. Its primary purpose is to ferry passengers from point to point. It is also the only method of transport between Alaska and the rest of the United States that doesn’t require international customs or immigration.

Now, back to the trip…

Before I discuss our kayaking for the day, I included a couple of pictures to help give some flavor to our adventures in Alaska. The first is the hallway my room was on. You will see life jackets and some rain gear drying outside of each room. Very critical garb in this country.

I also included a photo of my camera bag that I took on the land bushwhacking excursions. Simply put, what you see is what dried mud looks like after you have been scrambling through a wet rainforest, across puddles, and under fallen trees. A little water guard goes a long way to keeping the mud and moisture outside of your pack versus inside (gasp) on your valuable camera gear.

Robert and Crowe Islands are small rainforest-covered islands just outside of the Port Houghton Bay. What stood out for me about the islands, as seen from our kayaks, were the massive flocks of even more seabirds swarming over small juts of sand and gravel. The birds tended to cover the ground with a thick layer of soft white. As we approached, the birds lifted off seemingly as one unit, going from quiet ‘talking’ to a raucous communication. Guess we were not as stealthy of a visitor as we could have been.

We enjoyed watching them fly in tight patterns around while our kayaks bobbed in the gentle swells. Eventually, the birds seemed to decide that we were no threat, beautifully settling back onto the sand to resume their daily social interactions.

Our group spent most of the morning enjoying kayaking around the islands and watching the birds do their thing.

As we wrapped up our kayaking for the day, nature waved to us with a beautiful rainbow, which I captured overlooking the kayaks on our ship’s deck.

Our ship then headed south towards the Narrows on the way to Wrangell (see the next day’s entry for the route map). As we passed by Petersburg around lunchtime, we suddenly had cell phone reception; the first since we left Juneau. Everyone scrambled to get their messages and make quick connections.

This is when I found out that my cat had been taken back to the emergency pet hospital. I ended up going into seclusion for the rest of the day and the next. As mentioned, the crew was super understanding and supportive during this period. Unfortunately, I missed out on some beautiful areas and activities during that period, but everyone took great care of me while I worked through the experience. I have no way to express my appreciation to everyone for their understanding.

Talking with my travel companions and looking at their photos, I was able to reconstruct the part of the trip while I was secluded in my cabin.

For this afternoon, our ship headed down through the Narrows (large ships can’t go through this channel) and docked for the night and most of the next day in Wrangell.