Turning Tides and Lost Boats

The other day I was doing a Slate trip with two older ladies, P and M. The weather was extremely bad coming in from Seward so the boat was canceled and they were stuck another day. This wouldn’t normally be so bad but it was the last day for a group of 22’s vacation and many of them had to catch flights out of Anchorage that night. Rebooking was a nightmare, it’s hard enough to rebook over the phone but we don’t really have that out here. We have a satellite phone for emergencies and it costs 1$ a minute and you sound like an alien talking on it, limited internet for e-mail. 

Everyone was pretty stressed out trying to re-book and the fees were pretty intense. One lady had to pay over $800 to fly out one day later. Guess they should have taken our advice and bought trip insurance, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell them that. 

So my two ladies were part of that group. P was in pretty good spirits and trying to figure out what to wear and M was a ball of stress trying to get her stuff rebooked, she was almost in tears. An hour after we were supposed to leave I got them all suited up and we headed to the beach. On our walk out there M was still pretty upset about the situation but couldn’t believe how we, the staff were all so positive and encouraging. 

We talked about life and priorities on the 15 minute walk out there, I gave them the kayak safety speech and we all stress hugged the morning out. I got them into the double kayak, and I’m not gonna lie, it was a bit of a pain and we headed out.

The wind had stopped blowing from the morning and the rain and subsided to a drizzle. The bay was glass calm except for the tiny ripples from the rain drops. It was beautiful with the mountains all around us reflecting in the water. The trip can only get better from here I thought.

We kayaked and talked, they were painstakingly slow. We saw seals, pigeon gillimonts, marbled merletts, and other good things as we made way to the island. We got to slate and poked our nose in what I like to call a “kayak garage” (a hole between the towing slate walls) and checked out a sea arch before making our way over to a rocky beach. 

The landing went all right and I pulled the boats up. The ladies were ecstatic to check out the plant life and I made us all some hot coco and pulled out some snacks. We sat under the branches of an alder out of the rain next to what I can best describe as a zen pool of waterfalls dripping down the side of the island.

M was still pretty emotional and us three ladies stood around having a heart to heart and tearing up a bit. They were each talking about things they had done in the past year that were dumb mistakes that caused them a lot of stress. P is a counselor so it was a pretty sensitive moment. I was trying to think of something I could add when the ladies looked up and pointed out to the bay, “Don’t we need those?” I looked up to see the boats floating away with the tide. “Yep, we sure do” I said with a chuckle of oh shit but all I can do is laugh, as I walked toward them. 

My first solo outer bay trip with guests and I had managed to loose the boats. I was too proud to call it in and they weren’t too far. i debated weather or not to crawl along the rocks to grab the single but the surf was beginning to smash it into the side of the island and I didn’t want to risk getting bashed my self or sucked under. I slowly began walking out into the water toward the double. i was surprised to find my rain pants suction to my legs and I stayed dry up to my waist, The boat was still further out so I made a few more steps and the water came up over my pants and soaked me way down to my boots. Thank goodness for the wool base layers and neoprene socks, the cold felt mild, not like the 45 some degrees it actually was. The boat was almost within reach but I was too short, I couldn't grab it and it was pulling further and further away. I made the choice to swim. With a few short strokes I was able to grab the double and swim her to shore.

Unfortunately P had tried to assist me in the rescue and assumed she could walk into the water and stay dry, she was in rain gear anyway. We looked at each other a bit shocked as she felt the water spill into her boots and I felt the situation get a little more serious. But instead of being upset or panicking, we both just started cracking up. “whelp, good thing I brought the immersion bag” I sent her up the beach to start stripping under the alder as I hopped in the double and paddled out to the single to tow it in. 

M helped me get pam changed, we both looked pretty good in our new XXXL fleece pants, but we were dry. They both still really wanted to see the glacier but with our late start and swim session we were about out of time. They said they didn't care about missing lunch and I really wanted to get them the opportunity to see the glacier. i felt they deserved to get their monies worth after having to spend so much extra. 

I radioed our trip coordinator and asked if we could have an extension. “Hey Beth,” I was too nervous to tell her I had just lost the boats and went swimming and soaked a guest so I took a more subtle approach. “We are taking our time out here, do you mind if we stay another hour?”. “Surrreee” she said in her very suspecting Beth tone.

We got back in the boats and started paddling to the glacier. They wanted to get close but it was still 3 miles away and at the rate they paddled it was going to take us a day to get there. We made it a half mile, sat and watched then turned around. 

I didn’t think it was possible, the the pace got even slower. I was starting to get hungry and I had a presentation to get ready to give at 3. I looked back to see what was going on and M looked about the same color as the inside of an avocado. I asked how she was doing and she said she thinks she was feeling a little sea sick but assured me she could keep paddling. P and I tried to make up excuses on how to cure sea sickness but she really looked rough and we had another mile and a half to paddle and it was already 1:30. 

I made the executive decision to tow them. I had a tow rope already harnessed to my waist so I daisy chained it out and hooked it to their kayak. P was awesome helping me talk with M to make her feel better and also helped with the paddling. I radioed Beth when we got close to shore to bring out the ranger. 

The ladies and I had joked about keeping what happened on the island on the island but Beth was at the beach helping us get the boats up. I knew I was busted when she pulled my soaking wet base layers out of my back hatch and we came clean. Thankfully she laughed with with us as we spilled the beans. The ladies hugged me and thanked me for a great trip and the next day I found both their names on my trip sheet. 

That day just really proved how much a positive outlook can shape an experience. Thing after thing can go wrong, but we have the ability to choose how we handle the situation, and why not just make the best of it eh?