Unalaska - things change fast

Landed at Nikolski this afternoon about one... Paddled 200 plus miles (as the kayak paddles) and we've experienced a lot. Billy had told us to look up Scott Kerr. First person we meet on the beach..  : )
Looking a bit different for exposure to the elements along our journey so far, but on great form! We make an excellent working team, and not a cross word between us the whole way.
A few pics describe the Aleutians as we've experienced them, on the few occasions when the wind dropped and rain stopped, I went wild with the camera, and the Islands look stunning.

Goodbye to Billy, Colette and Jake who are headed for Umnak, at

 Dutch Harbor - docked with the Deadliest Catch vessel Seabrooke, astern of the Puk uk.

 spent a few hours in the Museum of the Aleutians, learning about where it all began...

There have been folk living here for over 9000 years, making it on par with the oldest settlements known.

 George is interviewed by Stephanie, on the dock, before we set off on stage 2 of our adventure.

Here's a link to the Interview with Stephanie at KUCB FM  before we left;

http://kucb.org/news/article/kayakers-attempting-aleutian-traverse/

 wind had dropped to 25 knots, so we set off at 1pm, Thursday 10th May 2012.

 Saw an amazing array of wildlife within that first afternoon, a raft of sea otters, foxes, a sea eagle taking a cormorant on the wing (right above our heads), quite a challenging headwind throughout, driving the snow in our faces...

The wind picked up rapidly, and as we fought our way slowly along the coast, down came the katabatic wind (locally known as a willowaw, or George's term 'special winds') got pretty exciting, and certainly time to camp : )

 Quite a lot of snow over the first three days, and less there after, it is pretty chilly too, especially at night.

Although we've had a fair share of wind, snow and then rain as we progressed, our experience day one was  the strongest gusts. I had adjusted to the fact that this was to be our lot for the next few weeks, but things change fast here, for good and for challenge.

More pics coming soon.

Keirron & George