A shipwreck. A volcano shawled in snow. Blue, glassy seas.
We started our 60 mile journey from Homer, Alaska under perfect blue skies for a 3 day excursion to Iliamna Bay and Iniskin Bay on the western side of Cook Inlet. The excitement of motoring to a remote landscape we’d never seen before to beach comb for fossils and explore an old shipwreck site was thrilling and fed our never-ending, insatiable desire for adventure.
Weather is always the number one factor when considering this ocean trek, and we had a small window of time and low tide to make the trip. A memorial, of sorts, for our friend and companion, Steve Lloyd, who has explored this rugged coastline before; he is the author of Farallon, Shipwreck and Survival on the Alaska Shore.
His fascinating book tells the story of the treacherous winter of 1910 when the Alaska Steamship Company’s Farallon struck the jagged Black Reef, stranding 38 men in the dead of winter, and how they survived day after day, week after week on the treeless, freezing and desolate shore.
A more barren, forbidding, forsaken place it would be hard to find…Shipmasters who know the place shun it as they would the gates of Hades. –John E. Thwaites, Mail Clerk, S.S. Farallon
We progressed cautiously along the legendary Black Reef and motored into Iliamna Bay that is ringed by rugged, scenic, remote country where cliffs hover over jagged surf-lashed rocks. Hardly the gates of Hades this time of year; we were stunned at the beauty and grandeur of the bay. Shuffling to shore on a dingy, we hopped off and explored the beaches, finding ammonite and petrified wood, kelp beds, volcanic rock caves and melting snow trickling into waterfalls down the mountainous terrain. At Iniskin Bay we explored an old cabin strewn with remnants of perhaps an old trapper, boatman, or spiritual seeker attempting to carve out a life in this remote and rugged place.
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| Quinn, the Eskimo dog perched on a rock; he prefers ice over water |
Fire on the beach. Eating hot soup out of the can, bread, hot tea and cookies…
…we rested for a while between explorations under a pair of circling eagles and the long bright days of daylight.
…we rested for a while between explorations under a pair of circling eagles and the long bright days of daylight.
We imagined the struggle of crewman surviving on depleted food
supplies, trudging daily through knee deep snow to retrieve willow
branches for their fires, sleeping in makeshift tents with just the clothes on
their backs, in windy sub-zero temperatures.
supplies, trudging daily through knee deep snow to retrieve willow
branches for their fires, sleeping in makeshift tents with just the clothes on
their backs, in windy sub-zero temperatures.
And how five brave men, who upon leaving the group, went for
help in a dory and crossed the treacherous waters of Shelikof Strait enroute to
Kodiak. Five brave men who endured a blinding snow storm on ice caked seas, feet
wrapped in burlap, in near-starving condition…and alerted the outside world of
the Farallon’s fate.
help in a dory and crossed the treacherous waters of Shelikof Strait enroute to
Kodiak. Five brave men who endured a blinding snow storm on ice caked seas, feet
wrapped in burlap, in near-starving condition…and alerted the outside world of
the Farallon’s fate.
In our windy slumber around a driftwood campfire, we thought
of how well we would sleep that night: in the blue surge, under a pink
moon rising over the menacing Black Reef of Iliamna Bay.
of how well we would sleep that night: in the blue surge, under a pink
moon rising over the menacing Black Reef of Iliamna Bay.
Sounds like you are on a wonderful adventure as you learn a little about the history of the area. Enjoy!
Yes. The stories behind the place make the trip all that much more worthwhile…
It must be exciting to explore the place where other adventurers, whether by accident or well-planned, have spent some time. And to contemplate what they went through. Your photos reveal a beautifully rugged coastline – I can see why it would draw certain kinds of inquisitive people.
A pink moon? How utterly beautiful. My daughter and I are thinking of some adventurous place to, but it has to be December (the only time her breaks from work are predictable). Would love to go to Alaska, but that's not a wintertime excursion, is it?
Yes, a pink moon (no, not Photoshopped!) it was stunning; and the blue sky in this photo taken at 11 pm.
Summer is the best time to visit, and we love having visitors!
The photo f the moon is sublime.
Finally, I'm getting you "placed" in the world. I had to smile when I saw Eagle River. When I was in college I nearly married a fellow whose family owned a hardware store in Kenai. Just as well I didn't, though at this point in my life I'd be happy to be living there.
Instead, I traveled that direction once, sailing from Hawaii. We came in at Cross Sound, across the Gulf of Alaska from you, and cruised Glacier Bay before heading down to Sitka. It was a marvelous time in my life, and set me on my entirely new course in life.
The photos of your adventure are splendid, and the story of the men is chilling. No one plans for such a thing, of course, yet there they were. I've already added the book to my reading list. I don't know what it is that compels sailors to read such stories – perhaps we're rather like children, asking to be scared as a way of learning to cope.