Eshamy Bay - Prince William Sound - July 2015
I feel super lucky that I made it to Eshamy Bay in Prince William Sound this past summer. Malcolm's mom and step-dad were visiting us and they had done the research, found Eshamy Bay Lodge, and invited us to join them there. Neither M nor I had ever heard of the lodge or the bay itself, so we were super stoked to check out a new destination in AK!
Looking east from Eshamy Bay Lodge towards Prince William Sound.
I, however, work a very busy schedule in the summers, so it wasn't a sure thing that I would make it out there with them. In fact, immediately before our reservation at Eshamy, I was guiding a trip in the Revelation Mountains, north of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. The Revs are renowned for having some of the worst (ie un-flyable) weather in Alaska. Poor weather the final day of our traverse would have meant I was stuck in the field with my clients, unable to get back to Anchorage, and thus unable to join M and this folks in Prince William Sound.
Eshamy Bay's location in Prince William Sound
But, as it turned out, the weather was marginal but flyable, so I made it out of the Revelations, then I caught a seat fare flight from Port Alsworth to Anchorage, where Malcolm and his folks picked me up. Then we hustled down the Turnagain arm to Whittier, where we just made the tunnel (the longest dual-use tunnel in the country, it opens hourly in either direction, so if you miss the opening, you wait another hour to get through!) and then caught our water taxi ride in the Whittier harbor. Talk about some logistics!
After all the hustle, things really slowed down once we were on the water. The driver of the water taxi, Duke was also the co-manager of the lodge, a duty he shares with his wife Pamela. Instead of heading directly to Eshamy Bay, he really took his time showing us all kinds of marine wildlife along the way. We stopped by the Kittiwake rookery across from Whittier, fooled around with the Dall's porpoises that enjoy playing in the wakes from the sounds many boats, took a back channel to check out a bunch of harbor seals hauled out on a rock, and floated right through a giant smack of jelly fish.
Once out at the lodge we were lucky enough to be the only guests for two nights of our three night stay. Eshamy Bay caters mostly to local Alaskans, many of whom drive themselves out to the lodge in their own boats. Since we didn't have our own boat we took advantage of the lodge's loaner kayaks. They certainly weren't high performance sea kayaks, but they did the job of getting us all over the bay, up Eshamy Lagoon and out around the bay's barrier island were we sat and watched humpback whales frolicking in the deeper water just beyond the bay's entrance.
Apart from sea kayaking, we went for walks in the rainforest, fished for salmon, picked raspberries, drank wine, played cards and enjoyed the great food at the lodge. On the water taxi ride back to Whittier we even stopped by a local, tucked away oyster farm for the freshest, most delicious oysters I've had in a long time.
I think Malcolm and I would definitely go back to Eshamy and I'm so grateful to Julie and Tim for inviting us out there! I spend so much time in the alpine each summer, it is really fun to be reminded of how special Alaska's lower elevations and seemingly unending coastlines truly are!
A day at the beach, AK style.
