Kayak Island lies in the Gulf of Alaska some 50 miles southeast of Cordova. Few people visit this site due to the exposed shores and bad weather. The island is famed for being the site where the first European, Georg Steller, set foot in Alaska on July 1741. The marine park encompasses the approximate landing site of the Bering Expedition. Steller found a native camp, but no natives, and "exchanged some goods", leaving some European items and taking some native items.