Alaska - Day 10

On the morning of the last day we woke earlier than usual so that we could get all our gear packed up and ready to go before Captain Mike was due at 9am. We had used the satellite phone the night before to make sure he hadn’t forgotten us and was planning to meet us as arranged. As it turned out, he arrived earlier than expected at about 8am, which led to slight panic because we weren’t ready to go yet. It seemed though, that he just came early to join us for breakfast, and he was definitely surprised by how good the fresh salmon omelet that he was handed tasted.

After breakfast, we packed up the remaining gear, put out the campfire for the last time, and loaded the boat. We pushed back from the beach that we’d become familiar with, and with the boat's wake behind us, we left the wilderness and made our way back to Whittier.

In Whittier, we were met by the owner of the Kayak rental center and he transported us back to the warehouse which was across town - about 5 minutes away from the marina. After sorting out our gear once more, returning our rental equipment, and rediscovering soap in the outhouse, we went back to the marina to settle up with Captain Mike. In his café/shop/office, we also bought souvenir maps, drinks, and a snack. We were on our way back to the real world now. Next we headed for the showers at the harbor master's building – and that felt pretty good after 10 days of roughing it. After showering, we rushed towards the tunnel, and in the nick of time, made it through as one of the last cars.

On the way back to Anchorage, we stopped again to watch the Beluga whales and then at Andy and Wendy’s friend's house in Bird Creek. We made one more stop to pick up sandwiches before Andy and Wendy dropped us off at the airport. Check-in involved moving items between bags to redistribute weight, and then we headed to the gate (without seat assignments). The flight was completely full and a little bit hectic. We also found out that some recent volcanic activity in the Aleutian Islands was blowing ash and causing quite a bit of disruption. Fortunately we got good seats and left Anchorage on time. Brad, whose flight was after ours, wasn’t so lucky.

After a night of traveling we arrived back home and began adjusting back to normal life.