Exploring Akutan Island for the First Time

Behind the waterfall. During our shorewalk we came across several waterfalls cascading down to the beach below.

We finally made it to the Aleutian Islands! It was a bit rocky getting out here, although it has been an incredible adventure so far. We have had families of bears, feeding fin whales, more puffins than we can shake a stick at, and some incredible hikes and paddles along the way. And now we have made it to Akutan, one of the first islands in the Aleutian chain. We had very nice conditions in Delarof Bay, and permission to go ashore and check out the little village of Akutan.

There isn't much going on at this little town. A few houses connected by a boardwalk, a couple of churches, including a very old Russian orthodox church, and a general store make up the town. When we got in touch with the town manager and told her we wanted to come, her response was, "Why do you want to come here?" But this was just what I was looking for. I wanted to the guests to get a feel for these small, remote Alaskan native villages.

It felt a bit weird walking through town without a local guide. The shop was closed, the church was closed, and not a soul was out and about. The boardwalk took us pretty much right through people's front yards. No cars needed here, but almost every house had a off-road four wheeler, and a couple had snowmobiles parked out front. The mossy hillsides did look like they would be perfect for snow skiing in the winter.

After walking through the quaint town, we walked off the end of the boardwalk onto a trail through the tall grass. Finally we stepped down to the rocky beach and started our intertidal shorewalk. We found lots of fun intertidal life in the tidepools, like chitons and massive barnacles. We ended up walking for a couple of miles. The moss covered cliffs turned into sheer rocky faces. Ancient volcanic activity could be seen in the cliffs where the lava had cooled into columnar basalt. We continued on past waterfalls that were falling right onto the rocks.

Finally I called the boat to send a skiff to pick us up. Instead of heading right back, I wanted to drive out to the entrance to the bay. I had heard tale of a sea cave that you could drive your small boat into and go through a tunnel to the other side. We checked out some rock arches and some cave entrances, but none looked like they went through to another opening. However, the biggest cave entrance, which looked just big enough to poke our skiff into, turned out to be the right one! I could see light coming through the other side. It was about 100 yards, with a hard left turn, and a low rocky roof. It was a good thing that it was low tide, otherwise we really would not have fit. We made it through to a secret cove on the other side. What an adventure!

In the afternoon we explored the huge valley at the end of the bay. One group hiked all the way up the rise at the end of the valley, looking down into another hidden green valley with hot springs and feral cows in it. I took a group along the shoreline and then hiked straight up a mountainside. The heather filled tundra was pretty easy and soft climbing. I was able to get a really nice view of every down below, and could see my crewmate, Dave, fishing in the winding valley river.

One of the locals said there are more like 79 people living in Akutan now. It is a tiny Alaskan village. Boardwalks connect all the houses, so we went for a little walk.

Canned foods, shake'n Bake, and more at the local general store.

We couldn't go into the store, but we did peek in the window to see what is available out in the wilds of Alaska.

Out in this part of the world, the biggest building in the town is usually the Russian orthodox church. This was part of Russia America until it was sold to the U.S. for 7.2 million dollars.

We landed on this little beach, since we didn't find a good dock to land at.

It wasn't until I was very close to the church that I saw the stereotypical onion dome structure on top.

After walking the boardwalks of Akutan town, we kept walking across the fields, then dipped down to the rocky shoreline for some intertidal shorewalk action. You can see our floating adventure platform in the background.

It was a bit uneven ground for shorewalking, but my adventurous group tackled it no problem.

It felt a little bit like the boardwalk took us right through people's front yards, and I wondered if they were looking out of their windows at me.

Whenever I see lupine growing, I have to stop and take a picture.

This old daihatsu truck doesn't look like it moved in a while.

Walking out the boardwalk from Akutan town.

Finding some giant barnacles on our shorewalk.

After the skiff picked us up from our shorewalk, we zipped to the outer point to look for a cave that I had heard legend of.

This was us, successfully navigating the cave.

Cool erosional sea stacks on the beach with the Safari Explorer in the background.

Keeping three points of contacts over the slippery rocks. It was not an easy shorewalk, but it was stunning!

Thanks to a local tip, we waited for low tide and managed to walk for a couple of miles along the shoreline.

We were surprised as we came around one turn to see three waterfalls tumbling down onto the beach.

This sea arch was right at the tip of entrance point, but still no cave.

In the afternoon, we moved the ship deeper into the bay to explore the huge meadow and river, meandering through it. I climbed strait up the side of this hill to get a better overview.