Exploring Uninhabited Aleutian Islands: Sanak, Tigalda, and the Baby Islands of Alaska

 

One of my favorite photos from the trip. Three horned puffins, all in different phases of taking off from the rocky ledge. Sanak Island. Taken from a kayak.

The great thing about expedition cruising, and one of the things that makes it so different than normal cruising, is that you can change your itinerary to explore new places and take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves. We have been running this Aleutian Islands itinerary up here in the wilds of Alaska all summer, and each trip we try to discover new places. The trip takes us from Dutch Harbor in the Aluetians, all the way to Seward, Alaska over the course of 10 days. Usually we get to explore two different islands in the Aleutian chain, before heading east towards the outer bays of the Alaskan peninsula, Katmai, and Kodiak. However, this trip I wanted to delve deeper into the Aleutian Islands, so my plan, weather dependent, was to explore five different Aleutian Islands. It was bold...but we made it happen!

After touring and hiking around Dutch Harbor, and hanging with locals in the tiny village of Akutan, we set out to explore some of the uninhabited Aleutian Islands. Our first stop was at the Baby Islands, which is a small group of islands near Akutan and Dutch Harbor. We loaded up our small boats and sent out skiff tours after dinner, (taking advantage of the late Alaskan sunset). Our goal was to find the rare Whiskered Auklet, a tiny diving bird related to the puffins. And we found several of them! Success.

The whiskered auklet!

Our next new island to explore was Tigalda. We arrived just as the guests were getting called for a meal, so Christian and I jetted out on the small boat to get on land and see what it was like. The low clouds hid the tops of the mountains, but we could see the green rolling hills angle up to a rocky ridgeline. The green turned out to be a heath filled tundra that felt like walking on a pillow. There were little creeks that would disappear under the tundra and reappear downhill. This would be a great place for the guests to walk around. It also looked like there were no animals on the island except maybe fox and birds. We raced up to the ridgeline, took a few pictures, and then raced back down to the boat to get ready for some kayaking in the bay. There is no evidence of villages or human habitation here, so it really feels untouched.

The final Aleutian Island for us this trip was another uninhabited one called Sanak Island. We chose Sanak and Tigalda after pouring over maps and satellite images, looking for calm harbors, and checking distances. We found a nice bay to anchor off Sanak Island, but there was a little swell rolling in. That didn't stop us from sending off kayaks and skiff tours. We spotted tons of puffins in the water, in the air, and nesting up on the island in big tuffs of grass. And while there were no people living on the island, there was a huge herd of feral highland cows and one horse running on the hillsides. These cows are still owned by the Native village corp. and can be used for meat when needed, but otherwise are totally wild. There used to be a large Unangan population on Sanak Island, and archeological evidence has been linked to people living here for thousands of years.

The guests soak up this expedition vibe, and are right there with us when we take them to places we've never been to before. They know we've done our research, and we look for certain places based on the weather and topography, but you never really know what you are going to get until you go. Its the joy of expedition cruising.

The low clouds over the green hills of Tigalda Island made a great background for our evening open paddle.

The hills of Tigalda were beautiful green heather tundra, filled with wildflowers.

After fighting rough water outbay, we kayaked back closer to Sanak Island. There was one bird that was unlike the others. I grabbed a photo and was able to ID it later. It turned out to be an ancient murrelet.

Two horned puffin on a ledge at Sanak Island.

Watching puffins take-off from the water can be quite the experience. Because they are heavy, diving birds, it takes a lot of effort to get flying, especially if there is no wind. This horned puffin is doing a fine job.

These tufted puffins are nesting up high in the grass on Sanak Island.

As we paddled along the shore of Sanak Island, we came across a large flock of swimming harlequin ducks. There is only one adult male in the flock. Can you find him?

A couple of after dinner kayakers in the calm waters of Tigalda Island. This was a new spot for us to check out, and a new Aleutian Island to add to our list.

I found many of these wild Irises on Tigalda Island during our recon.

We did some evening sea kayaking at Tigalda Island in the Aleutian Island chain.

Christian and me taking a selfie with our boat in the background as we do a little recon hike up the hills to the ridgeline on Tigalda Island. I'm not sure what Christian's face is telling me here.

We anchored our small boat for a quick recon on Tigalda Island. Whenever we have never been to a place, I like to jet off during the guests meals to go check it out.

Shooting the anchor chain of the Safari Explorer on our kayak at Sanak Island.

Riding high towards the inside of Sanak Island.

The kelp forest that we are paddling through has a great way of knocking down the wind and waves on the water's surface, which is why I'm guiding my group right through it.

Conditions got a bit rough for our kayaking group as we headed outbay at Sanak Island. We turned around and had a much calmer ride in the bay. And we saw some great puffins.