Summer Surfing in Alaska

Well, been a while again. After a year or so of barely using my DSLR, sold it and got the new GoPro Hero3+. Small, easy to use and I can definitely throw it in while fishing, surfing, skiing, boating, etc. in Alaska and don’t have to worry about ruining it. Tested it out last weekend and was surprised at the image quality while shooting stills. Had an amazing weekend surfing on the the North Gulf Coast enjoying good weather and some unusual summer swell.

Dreaming of Mexico…

Current weather at my house: 30 mph winds, 43 degrees and rain. Need to get out of here!

Early morning offshore fishing in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Be there soon enough….

Surf Hunting Alaska

Right before Thanksgiving we decided to have a go at some late season surfing and deer hunting on the southern end of Prince William Sound in Alaska. We ended up scoring beautiful blue skies, but the high pressure system in place came with some nasty (and cold) north winds. All the waves were blown out, but we managed to still get some deer hunting and fishing in. Overall the trip was a success because our freezers are now packed with fresh venison, halibut and lingcod for the winter. As for the surfing… just have to score next time!

Surf Panama!

Last spring we took a trip to a remote part of the Pacific coastline in Panama for a week long surf trip. Amazing waves with absolutely nobody around. Great week with intermittent power, lots of hammock time, and sore arms from surfing so much.

Denali Road Lottery

Been a while, but time to post some photos I’ve accumulated over the past year. We won a chance to drive our own car into Denali National Park. We scored with amazing fall weather and great views of the mountain. Hard to believe I stood on top of that big pile a rock a few short years ago…

Landing a Whopper!

It requires a lot of effort to reel in a sailfish… even more to get it in the boat for a photo!

Yakutat Surf trip

Perhaps the most famous place to surf in Alaska is in the town of Yakutat. It is a small town right on the gulf in the shadow of Mt St Elias. A beautiful place that has awesome beaches, great steelhead runs, and very remote feel.

A few weeks back myself and few others had extra frequent flyer miles to burn and we booked a last minute trip to Yakutat for a long weekend. It is a quick flight from Anchorage to Yakutat and you can get some big old beater rentals at the airport. It took a while to figure out the tides and breaks but after that we had an amazing time with some killer waves. Probably some of the best I’ve ever had. The break called Graveyards wrapped all the way around the point into Yakutat Bay and broke shoulder high and left for 100+ yds on a nice sandy beach. It made for some big smiles at the end of the day. If you are interested, hit up Jack at Icy Waves Surf Shop – he’ll get you dialed in with rentals, surfboards, etc. Here are some photos… not much of actual surfing because everyone was in the water and not snapping photos.