food

Food plays a huge part in our everyday lives, socially we exist around food, we celebrate with food, we meet over food, we swap recipes, we swap diets cause we eat too much food, and when travelling we spend a huge amount of  time buying transporting and preparing our food

Everybody brought their own eating utensils, but after the first day they all got thrown into the same bag and were mixed from then on. Noam found that flat stones can be used instead of a fork or spoon for rice pasta or couscous but not for soup

True , the conditions were a bit rough, but that's to be expected in the rainy wilds of Alaska. the kitchen area is always some distance from the sleeping area, this in case of hungry bears.

We kept to our Mediterranean diet most of the time, lots of fresh salads, tehina which we had brought from home, fresh fruit too. For breakfast we had pancakes eggs and oats, and lots of tea and coffee as well

You always have to remember to raise your mosquito netting before putting anything in your mouth

When eating in the rain make sure that you are under cover or else your soup can get diluted pretty quickly

The fresh Salmon turned into Cerviche, the rest was fried in butter for supper

Hot food and drinks are essential in the cold weather, they keep up your spirits and stave off hypothermia and keep one fueled up and ready to go. There are many ways to keep yourself fed on a trip, this is how we did it and it worked great.

Coxe glacier, calving video by Hadas

We had spent the night camping on the beach right next to the Glacier, during the night we heard the thunder like sounds from the ice falling and then a few minutes later heard the waves breaking on the shore. Next morning we took a trip to the face of the glacier and this is what we saw. Great video by Hadas

Alaska continued

Paddling in the Harriman Fiord is an amazing experience. The air is clean and cold, reminds me of skiing trips. the views in every direction are like fairy tales, the clouds and mist change all the time causing shifting shadows and moving images

Food is important, keeps you nourished, keeps you warm and keeps you busy especially when you have to feed 17 people, luckily everybody pitches in. If you didn't bring it with you you do without

keeping your body fit and healthy is important yoga stretching in this environment is natural, just look at these two trees.

paddling in ice is a new experience for us

Glaciers are amazing, watching them calve, sounds like thunder and then the waves arrive, need to take care and watch out for floating ice

Eli caught us a fish at the last minute of our trip, great for the last supper

David had some good supervision while cleaning and preparing the salmon

Trees grow everywhere

And finally the sea taxi arrived to take us back to Whittier, trip over all that's left are great  memories and photographs

Alaska, the last frontier

How does one describe the natural beauty, the remoteness and the awe of kayaking in the wilderness of Alaska.All through the trip I was looking for the words and came up empty. So maybe by describing our adventure some of the majesty of the place will shine through, even the photographs can only capture a small part of the  experience.

Getting kitted out with drysuites, booties, gumboots for shore, kayaks and then getting all that gear into the kayaks takes a whole morning if not more.

Eventually we set out from Whittier into the great outdoors, on a cold rainy day

The landscape is harsh, steep rocks  and forests, waterfalls every few hundred meters and very few beaches to stop at.We managed about 17km to our first campsite at Decision Point State marine park.

Tarps go up whenever we stop for a break because of the incessant rain.They provide a good shelter and allow us to prepare and eat our food in relative dry comfort. Did I say dry? in that rainy environment there is no such thing as dry, the wet gets into everything and drybags are relative. At the end of the day we set up the tarps again and then put up our tents under them and then change into dry clothes and then get wet again.

Umbrellas can be useful in this rainy place

Water water everywhere and lots of it to drink. Keeping our supply of fresh water was never a problem
but we only took from the waterfalls that didn`t have a long trip through the forest in order to keep the potential for contamination as small as possible.

We were surrounded by snow capped mountains cloudy grey skies and mist for most of the first few days, nevertheless the scenery was breathtaking in all directions.

To be continued..

Gone fishing

GONE FISHING,BACK IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

MAYBE

Due to a well needed vacation and the opportunity to go kayaking in Alaska, this blog will be closed until I get back.

Here are a few pictures of the last couple of days paddling at Optimist, 

Izzy showing off his new head protection gear

Notice the new chimney being erected on the beach for the Israel Electric Co.

We had a small wave yesterday

What a great smile

After taking this picture my Canon D10 stopped working

One day before flying off to paddle in Alaska my trusty? Canon D10 packed up.I had organised extra batteries for the trip and was congratulating myself on how my camera was still working when many others had already stopped.
So now I`m in a quandry, what to do?
I have a Pentax optio that I use for work, its specially adapted for close up photography, but has the usual functions and is waterproof as well. I will take it with me and then when I get back will do some research on new waterproof cameras.
Does anyone have any suggestions on which is the best one to get?
And now off to paddle in Alaska, bye bye.

try it, you may just get hooked

It looks so easy to the uninitiated, seeing kayakers playing and paddling on the water.What they don`t know is how much technique is involved in getting that kayak to do just what you want. They soon find out when they take their first lesson.

Of course some pick it up easier than others, but mostly they all go through the same stages of learning.
It`s rewarding to give a first lesson to a newcomer and see them progress in front of your eyes, from the first moment they sit in this unstable boat all tense and afraid of capsizing to feeling more in control and relaxed after only one hour in the kayak.

And most of all to realise how much fun it is. Almost  everybody has fun, except some who get seasick or cant let go and relax .
And it is a lot of fun, as soon as they gain some measure of boat control and learn to brace in the waves the level of fun increases.
Each lesson is tailored  to the individual and modified to deal with their ability, sometimes its faster and sometimes slower. Our first lesson is basic safety, boat control and direction control and what to do when you capsize, then if they want to they can begin going out with the group and learn on the go.
We always have a guide with the newcomers at least for the first few outings  and its amazing how fast they begin to improve . The only way to learn is to be out on the water, as much as possible.
We are lucky to have warm water and sunshine, this makes it easier to make that first time out a great experience.
Give it a try, you may just get hooked.

wer`e all going on a summer holiday

Summer holidays again, and Optimists love to travel.At present we have a group paddling between the Greek islands round Milos, but from the pictures Amit sent they seem to be spending a lot of time just lazing on the beaches

Wow, what a beautiful campsite, I guess the Taverna is just behind the ridge

And at the end of the month we have another group going to paddle in the Prince William Sound of Alaska. We were there 2 years ago and the memories are still strong

No Tavernas round here, but the ice is great, just add Scotch

Anticipation is growing for another Alaskan adventure, leaving the HEAT of home and immersing in the wonderful cold wilderness again.