Deadliest Paddle Episode 2

The bad news: we missed another episode of our favorite reality show last night. The good news: Rob, Hal and Jeff treated us to another late evening kayak experience. This time we added a few more paddlers to the mix. Hal's neighbor James and Phil, his coworker just up from New Zealand, and another Kodiakan Amanda. By the time we got the gear and the group together, picked up some food to eat at the beach, and launched everyone it was near 7:30. We put in at Mill Bay and paddled out and around Miller Point - part of Fort Abercrombie State Park. Usually teeming with comorants, eagles and puffins, the rocks off of Miller Point were eerily quiet. Once we reached the point we rafted up and enjoyed a Rainier "loud mouth malt." Calm water allowed us to drink, eat and be merry while the sun slowly slid toward Kodiak's mountain peaks. After rafting we paddled between rocks that punctuated the shoreline to find a small beach. Meghan was excited to find anemones, crabs, and chitons in the tide pools. I chatted with the Kiwi about skiing in New Zealand and we made plans for a mountain bike ride later in the week. Soon we all geared up and shoved off to return to Mill Bay. I lingered in the kelp beds soaking up every moment of the sunsetting pink light on the silvery sea. By the time we landed our boats we saw a couple of otters, no one went for a swim and it was past ten o'clock. The Deadliest Paddle it sure wasn't.

The Deadliest Paddle?

Meghan shows off her Big Ten Championship (crew) form

Tuesday nights are usually reserved for the latest episode of "The Deadliest Catch" and, by accident "Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment." Meghan and I got hooked on "Catch" long before moving to Alaska. Whenever we were house-sitting or at a place where we could watch cable TV for an uninterrupted span of hours we would find ourselves vegging out to several episodes of the show. Last night, however, our usual hosts for the show Jeff and Rob invited us for an evening kayak trip instead (with DVR anything is possible). Hal, another experienced kayaker joined us as well. By coincidence, Hal's son Shea was featured on last season's Catch. We were elated to get a chance to paddle around some of the smaller islands near town.
After launching from the float plane dock and avoiding a plane that attempted to splash down in front of us we paddled out into the larger bay. Waves crashed on rocks and cliffs as we pushed past bull kelp beds. Rob became infatuated with a sea otter resting in a kelp bed and lost track of the swelling sea. Before he could react a wave lifted his stern and flipped his boat. Immediately Jeff and Hal initiated a rescue. Meghan and I, the greenhorns, watched and waited trying to avoid a similar fate. The rescue was quick and efficient and soon Rob was upright in his boat, pumping out seawater. We then paddled to a nearby beach where Rob changed into dry clothes, Meghan searched for sea glass and the rest of us sipped on cans of Rainier beer. With the sun slowly setting we launched from the beach and paddled back to the dock. Once safely on dry land Meghan and I helped to load up the boats and I secretly hoped for another episode of The Deadliest Paddle next week.

Loose hips paddle ships