After the long hike to and from Mendenhall Glacier the day before, Tristan and I were ready to try something new. I recommended kayaking, since we had never tried that together before.
The next day, we went to a company we had driven past many times to rent our gear. One of the attendants then recommended making the drive to Kayaker’s Beach and kayaking there, because we would have open water and more to see.
That sounded like an excellent idea, so we got fitted for our life jackets and received a bucket full of everything we needed, except the kayak itself. She then instructed us on how to get in and out of the kayak safely, who should sit in the front or back and why, and what to do if we capsized.
Armed with all this, we hopped into the Jeep and drove back, past the way we had come, to Kayaker’s Beach. It was easy enough to find with the directions she provided and parking was free.
We were first greeted with this information about the natural environment at the beach and its surrounding areas.
Despite planning to pass up on hiking for the day, there was a bit of a hike to the beach. My guess would be about a mile or so. Here are some of the pictures from that beautiful trek through the lush Alaskan forest.
Beautiful, isn’t it? The ocean was more beautiful, still. It’s amazing how blue the water is in Alaska. It’s not tropical blue, to be sure, but it has its own hue that makes it inviting.
After our first glimpse of the ocean, we picked out a kayak from the rack that was holding about half a dozen or so. We then hauled it down to the beach and climbed inside to begin our adventure out on the ocean.
The view out there was absolutely stunning. If you’re wondering how on Earth we felt brave (or stupid!) enough to take out our phones, we had waterproof bags for them that floated. I had bought them for us about a week before leaving for Alaska and I’m happy we found the perfect occasion to use them.
Once out on the water, we plotted our course to one of the smaller islands we noted straight ahead. We had no idea what to expect once we got there, or if it would be safe to get on and off its shore, but nothing tried nothing done! The water there was even more beautiful and blue than we had seen from Kayaker’s Beach.
We couldn’t do much exploring on the island beyond the shore due to the thick forestry that blocked entry to its inner portion. That was probably for the best. Who knows what we might have stumbled upon or the trouble our curiosity could have led us to? So, after we had rested and taken a few pictures, we climbed back into the kayak and charted a new course to the island straight ahead.
As we closed in, I was very lucky to catch this beautiful picture of the ocean and the beach house. If you look to the far left of the rocks, you will notice an eagle is perched there. If you still can’t spot him there, then I’ll do better by you. Check this out.
If that isn’t the luckiest shot I’ve ever gotten in all my life, I’m not sure what it is. My Pixel 2 XL’s habit of taking motion pictures that I can export into these short videos is an amazing feature. I would never have gotten that shot without it.
Kayaking is fun and ocean kayaking on beautiful blue water even more so, but as hunger started to seep in, we turned our kayak back to shore. After hauling our kayak back to the rack, we lingered to say goodbye to the beautiful ocean.
Once we had our fill, we prepared for two more stops on the way back to town. The first was at an arboretum and the other was at the Saint Therese Shrine. But, those tales are for another day. Today, I’ll end this piece of our amazing trip to Alaska here.
Have you ever ever been kayaking before? Would you like to? Why, or why not? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Cost breakdown for this trip:
- Round trip from Atlanta to Alaska: $711.61
- Round trip from Las Vegas to Alaska: $579.80 (Tristan paid for his flight)
- Airbnb Booking: $317.99
- Turo Car Rental: ~$347.35 (Tristan paid for the car rental)
Thus, the entire trip cost me $1,029.60 and cost Tristan $927.15. Together, we shared a total cost of $1,956.75. This was our most expensive trip to date and worth every penny!