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Kayaks and Kittiwakes Sea Kayaking and photography on Prince William Sound

They said this was going to be the best day of the year so far.  They were right, and the weather was only a small part of it.  I'd come to Valdez for an educational meeting in late June.  The first few days of the week were damp and drizzly and I was starting to get a little discouraged about photo-ops since I had a free day on Wednesday.  That morning however brought brilliant sunshine, a welcome change from the damp, drizzly overcast of the previous days. The waters on Prince William Sound were turquoise.

I headed down to Anadyr Adventures and signed up for the 8 hour Shoup Glacier tour.  Two other couples and myself listened to our guide Paul as he went through the safety drill and paddling basics.  After being issued drybags, PFD's and rubber boots for the land portion, we headed across the street to the dock to pick out kayaks and load them onto the water taxi.  The couples took tandem boats, Paul and I took singles.  He offered to share a double with me, but since I've had a lot of sea-kayaking experience and wanted a little more flexibility for photography I preferred the single.  We loaded the kayaks onto the roof of the water taxi and headed out into Prince William Sound.

The water in the sound was a light aquamarine color and full of silt from the glacial runoff.  Sea otters floated on their back, bobbing in our wake as if lazing around in their swimming pool on a hot summers' afternoon.  Stellar Sea Lions were flopped on to navigation buoys and now and then a bald eagle appeared.  After thirty minute ride we arrived at a small bay where we lowered the kayaks into the water. I gingerly stowed my photography equipment between my legs and lashed it to the deck rigging so we wouldn't be separated. 

This area is rather unique as there has two tidal basins.  We were deposited in the outer basin and began paddling toward the moraine.  These are huge ever shifting rock piles left behind as the glacier recedes.  With Paul leading the way, we paddled in as the waterway became shallower and narrower.  Eventually we could go no further as the depth was now down to just a few inches and we had to get out and drag the boats.  This wasn't particularly easy going in loose fitting rubber boots over the rocky, and sometimes slippery terrain.  After about a half mile of this we were able to re-float the boats as we entered the inner basin.  Until now, the glacier had not been visible, but as we rounded the corner there it was.  We were in this incredible lagoon with scattered ice flows and the glacier stood off in the distance like a huge white wrinkled curtain.  A large cliff appeared in the distance, and as we approached, you could hear the screaming of Kittiwakes.  Seemingly "Velcroed" to the side of the cliffs were some 6000 nests, home to an estimated 20,000 birds.  We don't see Black Legged Kittiwakes often on the East Coast.  OK, so they're not puffins, they're seagulls, but an impressive site nevertheless.  As we paddled closer, it became apparent why hats were highly recommended.  They were everywhere.

We left the birds and began paddling towards the glacier.  We approached intensely lush green mountainsides with waterfalls spilling crystal clear water into the opaque aquamarine glacier melt.  Look how small the kayaks appear in the scale of things.  We pushed on towards the glacier off in the distance.  Seals were hauled out on the ice flows, and the chunks of ice became more concentrated in the bay gently hitting up against the side of the kayak.  Finally, it was time for lunch.  We found a gravelly area to the right hand side of the basin and beached the boats.  We hiked up a little ways and perched on the rocky moraine, diving into the box lunches we'd brought along.  I hadn't realized how hungry and thirsty I'd become...it didn't take me long to finish it off.  You could hear the glacier calving huge chunks of ice into the water.  There would be a groaning sound and then a thunderclap as tons of ice broke off and hit the water.  Gentle two to three foot waves were generated and the groaning would start again.  This glacier is receding every year apparently at a fairly fast rate and won't be around too much longer for us to enjoy it this close.  I've heard it's either because of global warming, or it's also something that glaciers do anyway in a cyclic fashion.  I suspect both factors are at play here.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Now came the amazing part.  We got back into the kayaks and headed closer to the face of the glacier.  Every now and then tiny tidal waves rocked the boats.  The sun was now right overhead, it was warm, perhaps seventy degrees or so, but you could feel the chill off the ice wall.  Paul kept a close eye to make sure none of the enraptured crew wandered too close and risk getting clobbered by falling ice, or capsized by a Tsunami.  I could have stayed for hours but it was time to head back.  Someone thoughtfully packed a Santa hat, so we posed and took pictures of ourselves for the inevitable Christmas cards to follow   Reluctantly we pointed in the opposite directed and headed back.  The seals were still hauled out on the ice flows.  A bald eagle was circling near one of the waterfalls.  As we headed to the narrows that divided the upper and lower tidal basins, things started to get interesting.  The tide was going out, and a the current was picking up as the water funneled through a fifty foot opening.  This was beginning to look like white-water kayak material.  I checked to make sure my camera equipment was safely stowed in the dry bag and headed into the chute.  Fortunately, my boat was equipped with a rudder with foot pedals.  As I picked up speed, I tried to keep the boat straight with by paddling briskly in a straight line.  I knew that if I did the skiing equivalent of "catching and edge" and got the thing sideways it would flip easily.  Anyway, I made it through to the lower basin intact.  That was faster than I'd ever traveled in a sea kayak.  The excitement seemed a fitting contrast to an otherwise placid day. The water taxi was there to meet us a the pre-arranged time and hauled ourselves back on board and flopped on the deck.  It sure seemed a lot easier to move around at the beginning of the trip!  A highly recommended way to spend a day.  After getting back to Valdez and feasting on Copper River Red salmon, I crashed hard in my bed.  I'd had some trouble adjusting to the time change and the getting used to the broad daylight at bedtime....it was the summer solstice.  Not that night though.  I couldn't wait to get on with my next side trip to the Wrangell-St Elias Wilderness.  Stay tuned.....

Photographic considerations

Although this trip had it's moments, it could be easily done by a beginner in fair physical condition.  If you have a chance to familiarize yourself by renting a kayak and taking a lesson, it would really be a confidence booster.  Sea Kayaks are actually very stable, I'd much rather be in one than a canoe.  A dry bag is essential.  There are some models which are inflatable and can hold a fair amount of weight, but the best protection is being prepared and being careful.  I carried a Canon A2E SLR camera, with a 28-135mm zoom and a 300mm telephoto.  Both these lenses make use of image stabilization technology which can be a real plus when shooting from a floating platform.  However, it was so bright that day that it wasn't an absolute necessity.  Definitely bring a polarizer to cut the glare off the water and ice.  Just remember you'll lose a couple of stops of light.  Also, the extreme brightness of the ice will fool many exposure meters into underexposure.  They want to make the world a neutral gray by design and you'll get gray snow.  You can work around this by metering off the white areas and opening up the aperture by one and a half to two stops, or metering off a medium toned subject and use that setting without any compensation.  The conditions were very contrasty, so I chose Fuji Sensia II which is a lower contrast film that I find works well in bright sun.  For print film I used Fuji Reala which is also a good choice for these conditions and is a lot more forgiving than slide film in more extreme lighting.