Tonight, after a full day of camp (which included failing yet again to master the stitch that Ms. Suzie was teaching us, learning the ins and outs of bear safety, zip lining, realizing that I was carving my paddle to be immensely fatter than everyone else's giving it the look of a banjo or halibut rather than a traditional paddle), we got invited to go out on a boat to see the Alutiiq petroglyphs. This was a really, really awesome opportunity. There are only a few spots on the entire island of Kodiak where you can find some of these carvings, and Afognak happens to be one of them. While they are a little hard to see in the picture, they were easy to spot from the boat. There are just a few of them (In the center of the rock to the left), and I learned that some of the pictures' meanings have been lost over the course of time. I didn't think to ask if anyone knew what these symbols may have meant.
After we looked at the petroglyphs, we took a trip out to the little island where some of the adults and kids had successfully shot a seal that morning. As we idled up to the island, we saw between 20-30 seals sun bathing on the beach and rocks. As soon as they heard the boat, they jumped into the ocean, and the next 15 minutes or so, we watched their curious heads bob up here and there as they checked us out. I have seen seals before while kayaking or from shore, but not this close, and definitely not this many at once. Again, I felt really lucky to be part of the camp this week and to be able to see these sorts of things. I know I was at camp to "help" with the kids, but I felt like I was being grossly overpaid with all these experiences :)
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