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Kayaking a perfect sea -- Prince William Sound
'This is glorious,' boater says before shoving off from Whittier
By Craig Medred / Anchorage Daily News
WHITTIER -- A strong north wind ruffled the waters of Passage Canal on this Thursday in August as Jon Nickles of Anchorage stuffed gear into a faded blue Klepper kayak pulled up on the rocks along the boat ramp in the local harbor.
Overhead, a few clouds raced across the sky, but most of the time the sun baked the normally rainy mountainsides. A kayaker headed out of town couldn't have asked for more.
''It's blowin' behind me,'' Nickles said. ''This is glorious.''
Nickles would get a push all the way down the canal. Ahead waited two to three weeks of adventure. Forest Service kayak ranger Laura Reynolds wandered by and confessed she was a little jealous.
She was on the beach because her kayaking partner had been called back to help fight fires. She chatted about boats and the Sound with Nickles as he readied the last of his gear.
A former employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Nickles is busy enjoying a life of semi-retirement.
''I'm trying to have the summers off,'' the 55-year-old graybeard said.
He'd spent part of this one as a volunteer for his former employer, doing bird surveys in Prince William Sound. It was part of the continuing follow-up on the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. The original plan had been to take the Klepper to Valdez and paddle back to Whittier, but he'd had trouble getting that trip organized.
''Logistics and everything,'' Nickles said.
He ended up shifting the start of the trip to this port -- now easily accessible from Anchorage. From here he planned to head toward Eaglet Bay and College and Harriman Fiords. He'd done trips like this before but not solo.
Going it alone would be a new adventure, but one he seemed to welcome.
''My friends have to work,'' he said almost sympathetically.
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