Puffin Island Paddle

Launching from Mission Beach, sailboat visible between Bird and Holiday Island

Went out yesterday onto the still water for to paddle my wee boat about a bit. The plan involved heading out to Puffin Island (great business name for any Kodiak vendors operating under the future cannabis licensure regulations), which, like many of the islands in this area, bears the derelict remnants of military installations.

After launching from Mission Beach, I spotted a small sailboat out towards Holiday Island. A short paddle led me to its port side and to my friends, Michael and Natura, and their fine dog, Godiva. They are new sailors, having secured this boat just one week previous. When a breath of wind began to luff their sails we parted ways.

Against the tide, my boat and I did slip towards and beyond Holiday Island, and over a sun-star crawling in the shallow waters; past Crooked Island and its rookeries of cliff-dwelling seabirds; along the northern edge of Popof Island; and there a mile further out lay Puffin Island.

View SW towards old military pier

Trying to disturb as few birds as possible, I beached in a corner of the sandy spit that still bears three piers from the dock the military once accessed this installation from. Boat tied up - because a swim for your boat is never a pleasant way to spend an afternoon - I clambered up the slope to a crumbling pillbox.

Sketch of military structures on Puffin Island. http://www.kadiak.org

This island once held a quartet of 90 mm guns, and a phalanx of GI's and their gear. Most of the buildings have crumbled, with their foundations and sodden bits of wood the only indicator of their presence. One pillbox remains in good shape. A concrete structure on the southern cliff-face still remains. 

GA prop-plane flies over Pillar Mountain

The most intriguing feature to me is the large battle magazine, where ammunition was stored. Dug out beneath the hill and accessed from east or west via a long, sloping concrete walkway. The magazine was pitch-black, and with my camera dead and no flashlight I opted against wandering inside. The walkway is now covered in a thick layer of moss, dirt, and the rotted wooden roof structure.

From the pillbox roof, the harassment of a sea-otter at the beaks of two sea-gulls played out. Swimming backwards, the otter stayed just out of the pecking reach of these opportunistic gulls. Otter soon had enough and submerged for a getaway. Surfacing about 100 meters NW, the otter was soon set-upon by two more gulls. Along with a juvenile eagle, I watched this scenario replay several more times before climbing down to wander more.

The island's interior is well-shielded from the wind. When I stood on the southern coast the cliff-face scooped the wind upwards, accelerating it to a great speed. Taking cover further in, where a building once stood, the wind was absent and the sea could not even be heard. Found a good spot to pitch a tent for a future trip.

Despite being in a drysuit, I grew cold after standing around on the eastern cliff, watching an eagle ruminate as the teal waters surged and sucked at the sandy shore some 70 feet below. Walked the length of the island back to my boat and pushed back out for the warming four mile paddle home.

For more details on this and other abandoned military installations in the area, check out Crusty old Joe's Kodiak Alaska Military History page.