Sea Kayaking Admiralty Isalnd
Sunday, May 18th, 2008
I was tempted to stay in Angoon after school let out for the summer just to have the time to do some more exploring in a sea kayak. Mitchell Bay, a saltwater inlet, extends about 20 miles into Admiralty Island just east of Angoon.
You have to time the tides just right as you enter the bay, as the entrance is very narrow. Run it in the middle of an incoming or outgoing tide, and you have to brave standing waves and large kayak-tipping whirlpools. So you need to know when the slack tide is and you have about a half-hour on each side of slack to get into the bay. Then you’re stuck on that side at least until the next slack tide – 6 hours later. But the bay is worth it. Bears and more bears. Great scenery and there’s often no one but your paddle party around. You can portage your boat over a series of trails and then paddle some connecting lakes and cut through the island to the east side and then paddle to Juneau.
jpb