June 20th 2010

Amalik Bay

58º05.344' N, 154º29.229' W




We left Kodiak's St Paul's Harbor Tuesday morning at six and on Wednesday, nearly 24 hours later, we dropped anchor in Amalik Bay. The definite highlights of the journey were the numerous fin whales and sea otters we saw in Kupreanof Strait but, once again, Shelikof Strait proved to be a real pain weather-wise. Instead of being from the south as predicted, the wind kept blowing from the west, i.e. straight on the nose. While banging against the waves as Sarema is no good at tacking, we were listening to ABBA and singing out loud “The Winner Takes It All”. Pathetic, some might say but we actually found it quite liberating!

Later on the same day when we woke up after just a few hours of sleep and went up on deck, we spotted a total of 20 (Yes, twenty!!!) grizzlies digging razor clams on the beaches surrounding the bay. Amongst them were five sows with cubs, one with a litter of three. It was good to see that the Amalik bear population is doing fine, and evidently new cubs will be born again next winter!





We spent the following two and a half days bear-watching, rock-fishing, nature photographing, and waiting for the weather to improve. And, by Friday, the direction of the wind had altered so that we could continue our journey. Since we were ready and anxious to move on, we decided to sail straight to the Shumagin Islands. It was not until late Sunday evening that we arrived in Sand Point where, again, our good friends Kathy and Vic were waiting for us at the dock.