Visiting the NW Sports Show or planning a trip to Kodiak?
04-04-2011, 05:11 PM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 1
Visiting the NW Sports Show or planning a trip to Kodiak?
“Kodiak Safaris” appears to be a business alias for Kodiak Charters, whose owners made headlines in past years as illegal hunting guides, and for pleading “no contest” to defrauding the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game out of thousands of dollars. They’ve been known to drop clients off in the middle of nowhere without a promised guide. Owners Randy and Brian Blondin are currently being sued for fraudulent bookkeeping by five of six people who worked for them last summer. I’ve twice filmed Brian Blondin shooting at an endangered sea otter swimming too close to his crab pot buoys.
Since the Blondins lost a lawsuit against the Larsen Bay Electric Co. last year, their Kodiak Charters/Safaris lodge is no longer powered by the local clean hydroelectric grid. Instead, Randy bought drums of marine-grade gas from the local cannery under the pretense of using it for commercial salmon fishing, then made his salmon fishery deckhands hand-load these 400-lb. drums, which were not at all legal for non-marine use, to the Kodiak Charters/Safaris lodge.
After salmon season, Randy’s and Brian’ employees waited months to be paid--longer than the season itself lasted--and were worked without pay in the meantime (moving furniture, painting, clearing out the storefront of a failed Blondin seafood business). One deckhand missed a semester of college due to the wait, was refunded only half his tuition, then received a check from Brian for half of what he’d been promised (one of Randy‘s deckhands was paid only three quarters).
I personally checked the paperwork accompanying the deckhands’ paychecks against an expense log which had been faithfully kept by one of Randy’s deckhands, and from all appearances, not only did the Blondins put non-lodge employees to hard work fueling the lodge and its guide boats, but they also took Kodiak Charters’/Safaris’ fuel and grocery expenses out of these non-lodge workers’ pay.
Which is why Kodiak Safaris/Charters and its owners are being sued yet again, and are not to be recommended. A web search of Randy, Terri, or Brian Blondin will cough up a very unsavory reputation, and give you some idea of why the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game keeps a close eye on these people.
Do yourself a favor, and book a trip with one of the dozens of Kodiak’s reputable charter/guide services instead.
Since the Blondins lost a lawsuit against the Larsen Bay Electric Co. last year, their Kodiak Charters/Safaris lodge is no longer powered by the local clean hydroelectric grid. Instead, Randy bought drums of marine-grade gas from the local cannery under the pretense of using it for commercial salmon fishing, then made his salmon fishery deckhands hand-load these 400-lb. drums, which were not at all legal for non-marine use, to the Kodiak Charters/Safaris lodge.
After salmon season, Randy’s and Brian’ employees waited months to be paid--longer than the season itself lasted--and were worked without pay in the meantime (moving furniture, painting, clearing out the storefront of a failed Blondin seafood business). One deckhand missed a semester of college due to the wait, was refunded only half his tuition, then received a check from Brian for half of what he’d been promised (one of Randy‘s deckhands was paid only three quarters).
I personally checked the paperwork accompanying the deckhands’ paychecks against an expense log which had been faithfully kept by one of Randy’s deckhands, and from all appearances, not only did the Blondins put non-lodge employees to hard work fueling the lodge and its guide boats, but they also took Kodiak Charters’/Safaris’ fuel and grocery expenses out of these non-lodge workers’ pay.
Which is why Kodiak Safaris/Charters and its owners are being sued yet again, and are not to be recommended. A web search of Randy, Terri, or Brian Blondin will cough up a very unsavory reputation, and give you some idea of why the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game keeps a close eye on these people.
Do yourself a favor, and book a trip with one of the dozens of Kodiak’s reputable charter/guide services instead.
