more pictures tutka bay...

monday turned out to be beautiful. the water was calm and skies blue. i got up early, but not as early as jennifer, she was up and enjoying the views for a few hours before i got out of bed. i enjoyed the last uncracked egg and some bacon. i rarely eat bacon, but sure tasted great out camping. we decided to explore the islands that lay in front of us. first we found water, then crossed over to elephant island. that island is in the next 2 photo's. very pretty. the rock formations of the two islands we cruised around were fascinating. must be volcanic in origin. i was surprised by how many flowers are already blooming. i guess at higher tides you can kayak through the trunk looking part. the above birds were in rookeries on the island we kayaked around next. that island is called hesketh island. we'd debated going around the larger island on the other side of elephant called yukon island, but we had time restraints. in the end we were all mesmorized by the beauty of the smaller island. i figured they'd all look similar, but hesketh continued to awe us.

the duck in yesterdays picture was called a harlequin and the birds in the top picture are black guillemots. pretty cool. i'll get to add thier photo to my bird book. looks like we actually got pretty lucky seeing those. this time of year many different birds are traveling to/from so you get quite the variety. looks like i have to make more copies in order to put one in my book.

the pictures here are just ones i took monday morning before we were up and moving for the day. there are just so many things to see anytime one is by the water.

it was an enjoyable day of paddling. the only downside to paddling in this region was all of the boat traffic and all the signs of civilization that surround you. there is plenty of nature though to keep one occupied. we got picked up at kayak beach around 4 or so and enjoyed a side trip into sadie cove to pick up some others. we chased the spouts of killer whales, but didn't get a good sighting. no pictures.

we all ate a rapid dinner on the spit before heading off to anchorage. it was a pretty drive back. i stopped a few times to take photo's and the sun was starting to set when i got back to anchorage near midnight.

the dogs were very happy to see me come through the door. yesterday was clean up, plant and today was relax. i actually ended up walking in kincaid in the morning and discovering the mosquito population of anchorage had bloomed while i was away. my extended family is also growing. two neices are preggers...congrats shannon and kelly. my nephews wife is also expecting. have been having issues loading pictures to facebook so will probably just add a few more here.

so not much else to say...enjoy the pictures i guess....