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Duncan Murrell - A Whale of a Time

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Duncan Murrell - A Whale of a Time

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  • Sailboat “Avalon”with Klepper Aerius 1 folding kayak on the deck, cruising along Icy Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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“Avalon” had a very large open deck for such a small boat boat so I was able to keep my folding kayak on the front deck and launch it very quickly; It was the perfect cruising combination. We also had a very small rowing dinghy called “Tea-Cup” that we used for rowing ashore, and which would also fit on the front deck of “Avalon”. “Avalon” was a gaff cutter but we didn’t use the sails that often because the sailing conditions were generally too unpredictable.
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  • Avalon wasn't the easiest boat to sail in the erratic wind conditions that are so prevalent in Southeast Alaska; there could be sudden gusts that knocked her right over on her side, and prompted much panic  to steer her back into the wind. I'm wearing my favourite hat and Woolrich coat from the Salvation Army charity shop in Petersburg, which was an endless source of useful items, and probably had the richest pickings of any charity shop that I have used regularly used.
    Southeast-Alaska-Avalon6.jpg
  • It was always important to know where the safest anchorages were because the weather conditions could deteriorate very quickly. Some weren't secure enough, and I spent many a sleepless night making sure that the anchor was still secure and that Avalon was being dragged onto the rocks.
    Southeast-Alaska-Avalon8.jpg
  • I made several trips to the amazing Glacier Bay National Park, in Avalon and just with my kayak.
    Southeast-Alaska-Avalon9.jpg
  • The Johns Hopkins Inlet is probably the most spectacular glacial inlet in Glacier Bay, but it was usually so heavily choked with ice that it was virtually impossible to get anywhere near the face of the huge glacier.
    Southeast-Alaska-Avalon22.jpg
  • My Klepper folding kayak fitted perfectly on the extra large deck for a small 28 ft sailboat. We also had a small dinghy called "Teacup" that fitted alongside my kayak on top of the forward hatch. They did get in the way when we were sailing but we didn't use the sails very often.
    Southeast-Alaska-Avalon4.jpg
  • This is the entrance on the West side that faced Admiralty Island. To the right of the photo you can see the distinctive outline of the hills that creates "the Sleeping Giant", as everybody called it. Later on when I was just kayaking, I still liked to stop here to camp because there was a very good place to camp near where I took this photo from. In the opposite direction behind this beach was a small island that was used as a haul-out by Steller sea lions. Whenever they were there you could constantly hear their rumbling groaning and roaring. There is also a lot of seal and seabird activity around the island, and particularly around the kelp beds. One of the regular seabirds there are pigeon guillemots (Cepphus columba), with their distinctive high-piched squeaking. Humpback whales also frequently feed in the nutrient-rich waters around the island, as a result of the strong upwelling created by strong currents colliding. I had my first close encounter with humpback whales lunge-feeding right next to the rocky shoreline of one of the islands.
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  • When we first bought the sailboat from the builder, a highly skilled English shipwright called Jim, he had painted the deck with black bitumastic paint as a drastic last resort to stop the mahogany deck leaking. It worked but created such a horrible mess on our hands and clothes, or anything that came into contact with it so we had to bite the bullet and scrape it all off, and what a horrible job that was! We then had to recaulk it in the old traditional way, and seal it with sealant using a sealant gun, which was also a horribly messy job. It was the first time that I had done anything like that before. The final sealing with sealant wasn't very successful because the seams opened up so much in hot dry weather, and the deck always leaked to some degree in different places. Apparently mahogany isn't the ideal choice for decking because it shrinks and swells too much.
    Southeast-Alaska-Avalon2.jpg
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  • This is the same place where I was charged by a brown bear catching salmon like this one. I was photographing it and suddenly it started charging towards me. I was still looking at it through the viewfinder until I realised that it was starting to fill the  screen, and that in fact it wasn't actually chasing fish anymore but charging me! I lowered my camera and my first instinct was to stand firm and tall, point at it in a commanding manner, and shout as loud as I could " go back!", which it duly obliged in doing. It screeched to a halt, snarled at me, and then swung around and ran away into the high grass, leaving me frozen to the spot with my heart in my mouth, my eyes and mouth wide-open and trembling from head to foot.
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  • The Brothers was one of my favourite and safest anchorages, with an entrance on either side, and a good beach near the anchorage for landing the dinghy or kayak. The intertidal life was amazing, and there was a special bonus of a rhubarb patch on one of the islands where there used to be a home.
    Southeast-Alaska-Avalon11.jpg
  • There were two dry docks that we used in Petersburg: this one and one in the Old Harbour right in front of the Harbour Master's office, where we were in full view while docking her, and scrubbing and painting her hull, so we preferred to be out of public view at this one.
    Southeast-Alaska-Avalon5.jpg
  • We had a small woodstove, for cooking and heating, which required very small pieces of wood. On the starboard side of the boat there was a bunker for wood. Much chopping, splitting and sawing was required to make kindling and a sufficient supply of short lengths of wood to keep the stove going. Because it was such a small space we could get smoked out very quickly. There was a little wooden stool next to the stove, which we referred to as the hot seat. We enjoyed having social gatherings on the boat, and they were very intimate cheek to jowl occasions because of the cramped space. The coach roof was supported by very stout laminated ash beams, which inflicted many painful bruises on my head and on anybody else who was forgetful of the limited overhead clearance. It was my first experience living on a boat and I absolutely loved it.
    Southeast-Alaska-Avalon1.jpg
  • Admiralty Island, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
I had my first close encounter with brown bears here. They were feeding on blueberries on the lower slopes of the mountains, and I crept as closely as I could until I started attracting too many biting insects, and had to fend them off without attracting the attention of the bears.At the Northern end of Seymour Canal that almost dissects Admiralty Island is the Pack Creek Brown Bear Viewing Area that offers visitors the opportunity to observe brown bears in their natural habitat as they fish for salmon and interact with one another during the summer months. It used to be the home of Stan Price who co-existed peacefully with the bears for many years. I used to visit Stan whenever I was up that far, and listened to his fascinating stories about the bears, that wandered around his cabins, and even on the roofs. It was in Windfall Harbour adjacent to Pack Creek where I was charged by a bear, and stopped it dead in its tracks by shouting at it with a thunderous voice to "GO BACK!"
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  • We would have been motoring with the sails hoisted, as we often used to do, to assist our speed and stabilise the boat in any choppy seas. Glacier Bay was the northernmost place that I used to travel to in Southeast Alaska, and any trips there were always eagerly anticipated because of the stupendous mountain scenery and all of the dramatic tidewater glaciers and inlets.
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  • Pybus Bay was one of my favourite beautiful places in Southeast Alaska.<br />
Admiralty Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago in Southeast Alaska. It is 145 km (90 mi) long and 56 km (35 mi) wide with an area of 4,264.1 km² (1,646.4 sq mi), making it the seventh largest island in the United States. It is one of the ABC islands of Alaska: Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof. The island is nearly cut in two by Seymour Canal; to its east is the long, narrow Glass Peninsula. Most of Admiralty Island — more than 955,000 acres (3,860 km²) is occupied by the Admiralty Island National Monument - a federally protected wilderness area administered by the Tongass National Forest. The Kootznoowoo Wilderness encompasses vast stands of old growth temperate rainforest. These forests provide some of the best habitat available to species such as brown bears, bald eagles, and Sitka black-tailed deer.
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  • It was so beautiful to be out on Frederick Sound where it meets Stephens Passage to the North. It is surrounded by the mountains of the mainland to the East and the North, Kupreanof Island to the South, and Baranof and Admiralty Island to the West.  There are passages to get out to the Pacific Ocean, but it seems contained like a massive lake. It can be tranquil like a millpond like this photo, but very quickly transformed into a maelstrom by powerful South-easterly winds, and strong currents.
    Southeast-Alaska-Avalon10.jpg
  • This photos shows how bare the rocks are in the inlet that has been sculpted by glacial action, and before there has been sufficient time for plant succession to gain any foothold.
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  • In my Klepper folding kayak, with sailboat Avalon moored at the Brothers Islands, with Admiralty Island in the background,  Stephen’s Passage, Southeast Alaska, Alaska, USA. <br />
<br />
My Alaskan partner and I worked together at a salmon cannery in the fishing town, Petersburg on Mitkof Island. We bought a 26 ft gaff cutter from an English boat builder who sailed it to Alaska from Oregon. My partner Anne, named it “Avalon”, because of a special interest in Arthurian legends. I then bought a Klepper Aerius 1 folding kayak from a local high-school teacher who did kayaking trips to the Arctic every summer with her fellow high-school teacher husband. I was now fully equipped to explore Southeast Alaska with my partner. The Brothers Islands is a pair of small islands in Stephen’s Passage a short distance from Admiralty Island. It is a beautiful, safe anchorage, with a commanding view of Stephen’s Passage and humpback whales commonly frequent the area. There is a Steller sea lion haul-out a short distance from the islands, where I saw many entertaining performances by those most endearing of sea creatures.
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  • Duncan Murrell kayaking with humpback whales in his Klepper Aerius 1 folding kayak, near the Brother’s Islands, with Admiralty Island and Baranof Island in the distance, Stephen’s Passage, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
<br />
This was my first ever memorable day kayaking with humpback whales in Southeast Alaska in about 1983; an amazing day that set the tone for another 20 years of involvement there with the whales. It was a beautifully flat calm day out on the water and there was a large pod of humpback whales feeding in the vicinity of the Brothers Islands where we were moored with “Avalon”. It was the day when I realized that a kayak was the only way that I could really appreciate being around the whales without disturbing them or interrupting their natural feeding behaviour. I discovered that they are completely safe to be around and that I could manoeuvre the kayak more than adequately to stay out of their way. It was such an adrenaline-rush to be so close to them, and to be able to feel their power and energy transmitted through the water.
    Whaleman-2.tif
  • I took this photo near my first real private accommodation in Petersburg. I had gone from living in the forest next to the beach in a shelter made from skunk cabbage leaves, to a polythene shelter in the forest, to a dilapidated old house, then to the cannery bunkhouse, and then to an apartment in the old Petersburg Pilot Newspaper building on Sing Lee Alley. I shared a darkroom in the old building with another local photographer. From there I moved onto the sailboat Avalon.
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  • Cape Fanshawe was always one of my first anchorages after leaving Petersburg, either in one of my boats, Avalon and subsequently Selena, or in my kayak. It’s on the mainland and at the entrance to my favourite place for vegetation in Southeast Alaska, Port Houghton. Although there are some safe anchorages in amongst the small islands there, and there used to be a fur farm situated there, the actual cape is very exposed to the full power of the elements as can be seen by the way these rocks on the shore have been sculpted; they have been sculpted like waves and are extremely slippery to walk on.<br />
I always remember being trapped there in my kayak late in the summer because the sea conditions were so rough. I was trying to get back to Petersburg at the end of a trip, and when the weather eventually cleared for a while, I had to make a dash for town and paddled continuously for 14 hours to make it back there. I had nearly been out of food, and to add to my torment my tent was being constantly bombarded with cones by a very petulant and territorial squirrel: it developed into squirrel wars!
    Southeast-Alaska-coast12.jpg
  • Wave-cut platform at Cape Fanshawe, on the mainland, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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Cape Fanshawe was always one of my first anchorages after leaving Petersburg, either in one of my boats, Avalon and subsequently Selena, or in my kayak. It’s on the mainland and at the entrance to my favourite place for vegetation in Southeast Alaska, Port Houghton. Although there are some safe anchorages in amongst the small islands there, and there used to be a fur farm situated there, the actual cape is very exposed to the full power of the elements as can be seen by the way these rocks on the shore have been sculpted; they have been sculpted like waves and are extremely slippery to walk on.<br />
I always remember being trapped there in my kayak late in the summer because the sea conditions were so rough. I was trying to get back to Petersburg at the end of a trip, and when the weather eventually cleared for a while, I had to make a dash for town and paddled continuously for 18 hours to make it back there. I had nearly been out of food, and to add to my torment my tent was being constantly bombarded with cones by a very petulant and territorial squirrel; it developed into squirrel wars!
    coast-3.tif
  • This photo was taken in my early days with Avalon and my Klepper kayak when the Seymour Canal was my regular haunt with the whales. As mammals, humpbacks must come to the surface to breathe.  Typically, humpbacks dive for 5-10 minutes although they can hold their breath for much longer if necessary. Unlike land mammals who store the majority of air in their lungs, whales store less than 25% in the lungs with almost half of the oxygen contained in hemoglobin molecules.  They also store oxygen in myoglobin molecules in the muscles.  When a whale dives, their metabolism and heart rate decrease so that they use oxygen stores more slowly.  At the same time blood is shunted away from the extremities.  These adaptations allow them to breathe much less frequently than land mammals. They also have a higher tolerance for carbon dioxide (CO2). Their brains do not trigger a breathing response until the levels of CO2 are much higher than what humans can tolerate.
    Alaska-humpback-whale-blowing2.jpg
  • This was my first ever memorable day kayaking with humpback whales in Southeast Alaska; an amazing day that set the tone for another 20 years of involvement there with the whales. It was a beautifully flat calm day out on the water and there was a large pod of humpback whales feeding in the vicinity of the Brothers Islands where we were moored with “Avalon”. It was the day when I realized that a kayak was the only way that I could really appreciate being around the whales without disturbing them or interrupting their natural feeding behaviour. I discovered that they are completely safe to be around and that I could manoeuvre the kayak more than adequately to stay out of their way. It was such an adrenaline-rush to be so close to them, and to be able to feel their power and energy transmitted through the water.
    Alaska-camping-kayaking1.jpg
  • Seymour Canal, which almost bisects Admiralty Island was one of my regular boating and kayaking haunts in my early years in Southeast Alaska. I always used to anchor Avalon in a beautiful little anchorage called Pleasant Bay, on the east side of Seymour Canal, but this camp was on the opposite side on the Glass Peninsula. This is where I was camped when I had one of my most amazing experiences when I witnessed a pod of orcas killing a big bull Steller's sea lion and attacking humpback whales in the middle of Seymour Canal.
    Alaska-camping-kayaking7.jpg
  • Duncan Murrell’s Klepper Aerius 1 folding kayak and gear at the start of a kayaking trip, Angoon, Admiralty Island, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
<br />
My partner and I eventually separated and I had one last fantastic summer alone cruising around Southeast Alaska with “Avalon” and my Klepper folding kayak. After that I just used my kayak and took everything that I needed to travel around with the humpback whales and camp out for many weeks alone in the Alaskan wilderness. It became a big challenge to be able to pack so much food and equipment in drybags into and onto my small folding kayak; everything had its place in the intricate jigsaw puzzle. Packing the kayak was always a chore but a necessary one to enable me to have so much freedom all summer. I developed a good system for taking the right dried food along with a certain amount of fresh food that could be hung up in the trees and eaten in the right order. That was supplemented with a growing knowledge of wild food that could be harvested from the beaches and the forest.
    Whaleman-3.tif
  • My partner and I eventually separated and I had one last fantastic summer alone cruising around Southeast Alaska with “Avalon” and my Klepper folding kayak. After that I just used my kayak and took everything that I needed to travel around with the humpback whales and camp out for many weeks alone in the Alaskan wilderness. It became a big challenge to be able to pack so much food and equipment in drybags into and onto my small folding kayak; everything had its place in the intricate jigsaw puzzle. Packing the kayak was always a chore but a necessary one to enable me to have so much freedom all summer. I developed a good system for taking the right dried food along with a certain amount of fresh food that could be hung up in the trees and eaten in the right order. That was supplemented with a growing knowledge of wild food that could be harvested from the beaches and the forest.
    Alaska-camping-kayaking4.jpg
  • I took this photo from the deck of my sailboat Avalon rather than from my kayak. Trying to keep up with orcas in a kayak is an entirely different proposition, especially in difficult sea conditions against the wind and tide; that is an extreme workout!
    Southeast-Alaska- orca1.jpg