ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska man on a paddleboard escaped a close encounter with a humpback whale, not even getting wet during a tense few seconds caught on camera by friends and family as the giant creature surfaced right in front of him then glided under his board.
“It’s just so massive. You’re puny against this whale,” Kevin Williams of Anchorage said Thursday, a week after his adventure with an adult humpback whale in Prince William Sound. Adult females can weigh up to 70,000 pounds (31,700 kilograms) and average about 49 feet (15 meters) in length, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Males are a little smaller.
Williams said anyone who claims they wouldn’t be afraid in that situation is crazy.
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An ongoing eruption of a remote volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands produced an ash cloud so large Tuesday that warnings were sent to pilots about potentially dangerous conditions.
A man walking on tidal mud flats with friends in an Alaska estuary got stuck up to his waist in the quicksand-like silt and drowned as the tide came in before frantic rescuers could extract him.
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Research on a flat spot for air evacuations. Talk of old-style civil defense sirens to warn of fast-moving wildfires.
Thousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have waited months for food stamp benefits, exacerbating a hunger crisis laid bare by the pandemic, inflation and the remnants of a typhoon.
“If you have a whale that doesn’t know you were there and is that close, that’s not a good situation,” he said. One flick of the animal’s fin “or anything it does could be the end of my life.”
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Williams, his son Brian and a couple other friends were paddleboarding or kayaking in the sound just off Whittier, located about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Anchorage.
They had seen the whale in the fjord, which is about 2 miles (3 kilometers) wide. Williams said he was slower than his friends, who were about 200 feet (60 meters) ahead of him.
The whale began to approach his friends, but they were close to the shoreline so he figured the whale would run out of room and reverse course. He thought he was in the safest spot since he was trailing the group.
The whale went underwater for about 45 seconds, longer than he had noticed it dive before.
“And it surfaced right in front of me, coming towards me,” Williams said. “Whoa! I love to see whales up close, but I’m on a paddleboard.”
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As the whale slipped below the water again and turned on its side, he could see the white of its belly slowly gliding underneath, about 3 feet (1 meter) under the surface.
The whale’s pectoral fin was sticking a few feet out of the water, and Williams feared the creature might flip over as it swam below him, or he might topple off the board and land on its stomach.
“If I fell down, you know, my feet could have easily been on that whale — tickling that whale or whatever,” he said.
To steady himself in case the fin hit, he braced his knees together, kneeled, then lowered himself on all fours.
As the whale passed under him “there was hardly any turbulence, and I didn’t get wet,” he said, adding that it’s rare for people to get hurt by whales.
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Still, the experience won’t keep Williams off the water. He plans another paddleboarding trip later Thursday.
“I’ll never stop, and this is once in a lifetime,” he said.
News-Miner opinion: If you visited a Fairbanks grocery store in the last two weeks you may have noticed something. Or, that is, a lack of something: groceries. Milk, meat, produce, bread, paper goods, and other household staples were either in short supply or nowhere to be found.
This was largely due to mechanical issues which sidelined one of the cargo ships in TOTE Maritime’s fleet for two weeks. TOTE is one of the major commercial shipping enterprises that transports goods to Alaska from the Lower 48. To TOTE’s credit, they worked with one of their competitors, Matson, to get some of the stalled freight to Alaska while their ship underwent repairs. However, the shelves were still alarmingly bare. Granted, local shoppers prepping for Memorial Day weekend and an influx of summer tourists may have helped deplete store inventories, but it is also true that this is not the first time that our ability to buy food and other necessities has been sharply curtailed. This most recent incident serves as a stark reminder of Alaska’s precarious position at the end of the supply chain.
The unfortunate reality is that Alaska has a shipping problem. This is nothing new, and many factors contribute to the issue. Extreme weather, distance from manufacturing hubs, the occasional labor dispute, natural disasters, and global crises such as the Covid pandemic conspire to make the transportation of goods to Alaska a logistical headache. Ocean-going vessels are the most cost-effective carrier for these goods. Airline shipping is cost-prohibitive due to weight limits and fuel prices, though companies can, and do, use that method. Overland truck transport has its limits, with travel time and seasonal road closures being major constraints. Railroad shipping is perhaps the most economic way to move freight, but we currently lack a rail system connecting Alaska to Canada and the Lower 48. As such, Alaska’s shipping and supply issues are not likely to change unless a new and far more efficient, reliable and inexpensive form of transportation is developed.
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What, then, is the solution? The fact remains that Alaska needs more ports with more dock space. A full 50% of Alaska’s freight and fuel arrive via the Port of Alaska in Anchorage, and although the port is set to move forward with a massive multi-year modernization project, this does little to help us in the short term. We need to fully develop Port MacKenzie and take advantage of its deep water capacities and existing access to the road and rail corridors serving our major population centers. Alaska also needs to institute stronger policies to encourage and support in-state food production and general manufacturing. This requires legislative action and robust investment. In addition, companies that used to maintain large warehouses for the storage of extra inventory, thus enabling them to keep local stores stocked when shipping was interrupted, need to revisit their short-sighted decisions to end that practice. To do less leaves local merchants vulnerable to competition such as Amazon.
Until and unless these things happen, Alaska will continue to be plagued with bare shelves, prohibitive prices and a continued lack of the goods and services that those in the Lower 48 take for granted.
Nick Mavar, ‘Deadliest Catch’ veteran, dies in Alaska
Nick Mavar, a longtime deckhand on the Discovery Channel reality series Deadliest Catch, has passed away at the age of 59.
According to the Bristol Bay Borough Police Department in Alaska, Mavar died of natural causes on June 13 in a boat yard in Naknek.
He was a fixture on the show, appearing in 98 episodes across 17 seasons, and also featured in several spin-off specials.
Mavar’s family has been informed of his passing.
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Mavar left the show in December 2020 following the discovery of a malignant tumour when his appendix burst while production.
Sig Hansen, the owner of the boat, would eventually face a $1 million lawsuit from him for “failure to have an adequate plan in place” in the case of a medical emergency during the stringent COVID-19 quarantine.
Mavar faced two near-fatal incidents while filming the show. In the first incident, a hook struck him in the face during a storm, breaking his nose. Nine years later, he suffered an appendicitis attack, which was allegedly delayed due to production protocols.
Hansen, his family member, initially sued the hospital but later redirected the lawsuit to Original Productions Inc., the show’s production company, holding them responsible for the delayed care.
After over 15 years on the show, Mavar spent his final days captaining his salmon boat in Bristol Bay. Fans have taken to social media to pay tribute to his memory.
RVs are parked in the lot at Alaska Motor Home, an RV rental company, on Friday, June 14, 2024 in Anchorage. The state announced it was suing the company on Thursday, alleging that the company engaged in deceptive business practices. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
An Anchorage motor home rental business closed abruptly Friday, leaving hundreds of visitors outthousands of dollars and scrambling for replacements at the peak of Alaska’s summer tourism season.
The shutdown came a day after the state filed a civil lawsuit accusing the business, Alaska Motor Home Inc., of deceptive practices.
The state claims the company illegally charged customers for deposits before they picked up RVs, overcharged for taxes, and forged at least one customer’s signature, according to a complaint filed Thursday in Anchorage Superior Court.
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The complaint names owner Peter Harkovitch and his son, Cole Harkovitch, as defendants along with the business.
The company decided to close without intending to refund customers, yet was still accepting reservations and payments through July, the complaint said.
An Alaska Department of Law spokesman said officials believe there are hundreds of victims in the case, given the company’s anticipated fleet of 60 motor homes this summer.
Other RV companies in Anchorage this week reported a deluge of calls from visitors looking for last-minute rentals. Great Alaskan Holidays received about a hundred inquiries from Alaska Motor Home customers, according to marketing director Bob Johnson.
“It started yesterday morning as soon as we opened, and it has only probably within the last hour began to settle down,” Johnson said Friday afternoon, adding all requests have been accommodated.
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At Alaska Motor Home’s offices in South Anchorage on West 64th Avenue near C Street on Friday, two longtime employees expressed sadness over the sudden closing. One cleaned RVs still being returned by customers — the employees said they expected more to be returned through the month — while another said he was shuttling customers to cruise ships or the airport to catch flights home to the Lower 48.
Cole Harkovitch removed his name from the business in May, leaving his father as the sole officer, according to a state corporations database. Cole Harkovitch declined to comment when contacted by the Daily News at the business Friday, saying that “we’re still trying to hash things out. I’m just one of the people caught in the crossfire.”
In a letter to the state Department of Law Wednesday, an attorney representing the company said it was ceasing operations Friday because it was “impossible” to stay in business due to several factors, including the fact that Peter Harkovitch is incarcerated. The letter also references issues with cash reserves, restricted access to computer records, and financing for 20 new motor homes.
“As you are well aware, there will be numerous complaints filed with your office,” attorney Terry Draeger wrote. He was out of state and could not be reached for comment Friday.
Alaska Motor Home, an RV rental company, photographed Friday in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
This is the second time the state has filed suit against Alaska Motor Home on charges of unfair practices. The state sued the company and owners in 2019, citing similar problems.
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A judge in 2021 ordered a $110,000 fine but as of this week, the company had paid only half, state law officials said Friday. Customer complaints about Alaska Motor Home date back at least as far as 2014, when the company accused the Better Business Bureau of harassment, prompting a wave of criticism.
The state’s complaint also accuses 66-year-old Peter Harkovitch of “a history of using Alaska Motor Home’s assets as his personal assets” to pay for his mortgage, credit card bills, pool cleaning services as well as ATM withdrawals in Florida, Las Vegas, Spain, Italy and other locations. His wife was also able to pull money out of the company’s account, according to the state’s complaint.
Peter Harkovitch is currently incarcerated at Pinellas County Jail in Florida, according to online records. He is charged with aggravated battery, threatening a public servant and criminal mischief, according to online records. Harkovitch is accused of assaulting a family member in March, leaving them in critical condition, according to a complaint filed in that case. He is also accused of destroying the apartment where they lived and urinating on a police officer, according to a sworn affidavit.
The complaint against Alaska Motor Home names a number of customers reporting issues ranging from large fees put on credit cards without authorization to contracts promising insurance the company did not offer and charging taxes above the tax rate.
Peter Harkovitch sent a woman from Utah threatening messages and eventually asked for an “unconscionable” amount of more than $20,000 after a damages dispute, the complaint said. The woman was unable to recoup $7,500 in credit card charges because someone forged her signature on two receipts, it said.
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Another customer making his first trip to Alaska this summer told state consumer officials on Tuesday that he prepaid $3,700 for an RV rental and left several messages but no one returned his calls, according to the complaint.
Reynolds Holiman, a Florida engineer who owns property in Homer, said in an interview Friday that he paid $1,840 to drive a new RV from Indiana to Alaska. But in March, Alaska Motor Home put an unauthorized $2,500 deposit on his credit card, Holiman said. Then a few days before the trip was supposed to start in mid-May, he said, the business said the RV was no longer available. He asked for a refund.
Holiman said he had received about $1,400 and the attorney general’s office told him Thursday that the $2,500 deposit was illegal. He said he’s glad to have at least some of the money back.
“Fraud is a strong word, but if they charged me $2,500 they weren’t due yet for a motor home they weren’t paid for yet, that almost sounds like fraud,” Holiman said.
A temporary restraining order requested by the state asks a judge to require Alaska Motor Home to notify customers about the closure, halt new reservations, and preserve company assets and records.
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State officials encourage anyone who made reservations with Alaska Motor Home via credit card to check their eligibility for a chargeback and file a consumer complaint.
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