Fake plastic seaweed
Anything after that was going to be anti climactic, so we paddled back to the boat, loaded up our boards and headed back out to sea. On the way out of the glassy bay we decided to try surfing the wake of the Milo. It had a pretty cool bow wake and a good sized stern wake, and I wanted to get some waves! Because he is the youngest and never seems to take his wetsuit off, Kai went first. He hog cheesed, I mean rode, the wake of the Milo just long enough so that with Kevin and I standing in our wetsuits waiting to have our turn, the wind picked up, the water got choppy, and that was that. Next time the old guy goes first.
So further into the bay we paddled, jumping off on another rocky beach to explore the tons of plastic trash that has washed up onto the Alaska coastline, much of it from Asia. Hundreds of plastic fishing buoys litter the rocks, as well as a strange collection of other random things that have fallen off of container ships. Aluminum drinking bottles and fly swatters were a common item in this particular cove. I made a hanging sculpture out of a bunch of it. The inflatable One boards were the perfect exploration vehicle, able to navigate the shallow waters, bounce off the rocks and stuff with no worry of damage. We found a waterfall that flowed into the ocean and stopped for a quick drink (a bit of bear poo upstream maybe but for sure no pesticides or chemicals in the water out here!) and then headed back to the Milo for dinner.
Although I am normally no fan of being on a boat, with a bottle of Dramamine and incredible nature everywhere you looked, I was having a blast and fortunately did not even have a hint of my normal sea sickness…
