“The Enchanted Circle” A week in early May sea kayaking and wildlife watching, traversing Prince William Sound aboard the charter yacht Faithfully. Sea Otters. They porpoise, they dive, they crawl up on a nearby iceberg and slide back in. They frolic in an intertidal lagoon full of bergie bits from a nearby glacier. Sapphire-blue ice […]
Santa Cruz Kayak Surf Festival, March 19-21, 2004
One weekend a year, the board surfers yield famed Steamer Lane to kayak surfers. Santa Cruz, CA. The March 19-21, 2004 Santa Cruz Kayak Surf Festival featured waves so small they were drowned out by the bark of sea lions and the squeal of offshore sea otter pups. A high mid-day tide forced kayakers in […]
Wild Capes, Great Crepes
Aboard the Home Shore, routes from Sitka to West Chichagof and Lituya Bay, and then to Tracy Arm and Icy Strait. A sea kayaking cherry-pick. May, 2003. “I wouldn’t want to take a boat through here”, I said, looking up from the chart to the rock-strewn entrance to Piehle Pass. “That’s just why I wanted […]
Santa Cruz Kayak Surf Festival, March 14-16, 2003
Veteran kayak surfer Kim Sprague called it “epic”. A series of storms rolled in for the March 14-16 Festival. Wave height by Sunday morning reached 25 feet. Kayakers surfed the big wave trains. Many got “worked”; quite a few swam. Spectators were treated to plenty of action. K1 (whitewater class) paddlers showed some new moves, […]
Sun River, Oregon
Sun River and Bend, Oregon, Mountain Lakes August, 2002 (and 2003, 2004, 2005). The volcanic spires near Sun River (just south of Bend), Oregon, provide a magnificent setting for quiet water canoeing and kayaking. We paddled Sparks and Hosmer lakes, Crane Prairie Reservior, plus a class 1 river trip down the Deschutes. We scouted, but […]
Wild Side Easy
Kayak Mothership Cruise. Three weeks in Southeast Alaska aboard the charter yacht Ursa Major, with wildlife watching, plenty of paddling, and a trip to fabled Lituya Bay. Charter yacht Ursa Major motors into Saook Bay, Baranof Island. She parks briefly mid-bay to toss out shrimp pots. The water depth is 160 feet. Crab pots are […]
2002 Santa Cruz Kayak Surf Festival
One weekend a year, the board surfers yield famed Steamer Lane to kayak surfers. Santa Cruz, CA. The March 22-24 Santa Cruz Kayak Surf Festival began with wind-whipped waves and penetrating rain. The swell was moderate, a good test for the field of competitors that arrived from as far as Jersey (off the coast of […]
Paradise Park, Mt. Rainier National Park
Wildflowers at Paradise, Mt. Rainier. Mid-August, 2000. “Gardens of Eden . . . . filled knee-deep with fresh, lovely flowers of every hue, the most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings.” -John Muir, writing about a 1888 visit to Paradise Park and […]
Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground, Mt. Rainier National Park
Wildflowers and mirror ponds at Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground. Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground is a huge bench with mirror ponds and an expansive sub-alpine meadow. Several ponds reflect the Mountain, including the pond made famous by the Ashel Curtis photograph. Find carpets of avalanche lily in July; densely-packed lupine in August. Most of the pictures […]
Florida Bird Photography
I was in Florida in February, 2000, to photograph birds and to kayak. South Florida stops included Ding-Darling NWR, the Venice Rookery, Myakka State Park, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, and Everglades National Park. I kayaked at Ding, Myakka and the Everglades. I also visited Loxahatchee NWR, Merit NWR, Cedar Key NWR, Wakulla State Park, and St. […]