Whaletail to Deer Island

Day 22 - June 2

I slept in while Glen went for a dinghy ride. 11:45 am – left Whaletail Cove on a high tide. Our exit was much faster and more pleasant (for me) than our entrance. Not exactly sure where we are headed today, Glen just says we’re exploring.

We anchored in a small bay on the west side of Deer Island, with a stern line to shore. Put down the dinghy and went exploring. Seemed like a very remote and private place.

Came around a bend and into a bigger bay and found a floating camp. Two story float house on a barge type float tied between two additional floats. Out front were about 6 canoes with 2-3 people in each. Three adults in the group and the rest were young teenagers. They were obviously learning to paddle and get comfortable in their canoes. We stopped to watch and their leader followed by the group approached to say hello. This camp is part of the Alaska Community Services and is used for ‘outward bound’ type groups as well as long term (30-45 days) outings for high risk and/or behavioral issue youth. They were on day 2 and were learning to paddle; they were excited to also be going swimming later in the day. That water is cold, I am not going swimming. One of the two docks next to the house was basically a large deck set up for activities and swimming. The back dock/float had a storage building and racks for about 10-12 canoes. A larger boat was also tied there for use in transporting the groups from Wrangle. This group was going to go on an adventure up the Stikine River tomorrow (in the bigger boat) and then hike somewhere. The same organization currently has 3 other groups out for 30+ day trips hiking in the wilderness. We wished them fun on their adventures and went on our way.

Got back to the boat just as it started to rain. Good timing Glen, or was it just a lucky break. It rained all evening and most of the night.

Big tide change today – about 20 feet.