Alaska Day 11

We started out the day cruising south in the Strait of Georgia and into Canada's Gulf Islands. Before lunch those of us who wanted a long kayak paddle packed our lunches and headed out in the kayaks. We paddled around Prevost Island and saw the following critters: 3 kinds of sea stars (purple, fat-bodied orange, and many armed orange); plump oysters, 2 oyster catchers, a weasel (probably a mink), harbor seals, great blue herons, stone turners (a type of shorebird). Because the wind was picking up we paddled back to our starting point and took a nice hike.

Alaska Day 10

We started the day in Alert Bay, British Columbia which is a native community on Cormorant Island near the northeast coast of Vancouver Island. We took a guided tour of the U'mista Cultural Center, which houses a world-renowned collection of masks and other artifacts, and saw a native dance performance.

In the afternoon we cruised Johnstone Strait looking for killer whales. We found some at a distance in the preserve set aside for them. You can tell this is a male orca from the size of the dorsal fin. A couple "floating Hyatts" passed us while we were there so it is understandable that the preserve was created to project the whales from passing ships. There is a "rubbing beach" within the preserve where the whales rub against the rocks on the beach and no one is sure why they do it. The cetacean expert on board was ecstatic to witness the behavior in person.

Alaska Day 9

This morning, another gorgeous day, we were in Khutze Inlet for hiking and kayaking. We saw lots of bald eagles, a harbor seal, a swan, more salmon. The scenery was breathtaking. And lunch was served picnic style up on the top deck.

After lunch we continued south through British Columbia’s inside passage and had a great view of Dall's porpoises riding the bow wave of the ship.

Alaska Day 8

We’re actually now in British Columbia. And there is a bright cloudless sky. We landed in Prince Rupert this morning for a customs check-in and had a tour and native dance demonstration at the Museum of Northern British Columbia. In the afternoon we headed south again. The trip from now on is going to be more about cruising through beautiful scenery than seeing wildlife. We have lots of ground to cover to get to Seattle on Thursday -- though we stopped in the evening in Klewnuggit Inlet which is another great spot with steep granite walls. And beautiful reflections in the still water.The sky was so clear we stayed up to see the stars from the top of the ship. The Milky Way was spectacular.

Alaska Day 7

Today is our last day in Alaska. We saw more humpbacksas we headed for Misty Fjords National Monument where we spent most of the day. The fjord we were in lived up to its name with narrow passages through very steep granite walls. There were many beautiful waterfalls coming down the sheer sides.We elected to explore by zodiac rather than kayak so we could cover more ground. We got right up to the bottom of several of the falls and found 3 more brown bears in a salmon stream. This one has obviously eaten LOTS of salmon.

Alaska Day 6

We started the day early this morning heading down the aptly named Wrangall Narrows in fairly dense fog. We headed for the National Forest Service trail to Lake Harvey where we took a 2 mile round trip hike to the lake and back through the temperate rain forest. We have come far enough south that red cedars (Thuja plicata) are mixing with the more northern yellow cedars (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis). W took this great photo of a slug chewing on a mushroom on the damp forest floor.By the afternoon the weather had cleared considerably and the sun even came out. So that made the afternoon kayaking in Beecher Pass Marine Park especially nice. We saw bald eagles, of course, great blue herons, starfish, crabs, and lots of seaweed and mussels.

Alaska Day 5

Today we stopped in Juneau so the boat could do some necessary things like bringing on more food, clean laundry, etc. The first impression of Juneau is the cruise ships, which our crew call floating Hyatts. The huge monsters are docked all around us. What a way not to see Alaska.

We took a bus trip to Mendenhall Glacier, and to the national museum, and then had an opportunity to go shopping. We stopped in a bookstore and I found a quilt shop where I got another quilting fabric. Now I won’t be able to travel anywhere without searching out the nearest quilting store. I wonder if there is one in Corvallis.

In the afternoon we got underway and didn’t do much wildlife or scenery viewing. But one of our great naturalists gave a neat talk on cetaceans, so they are always finding ways to keep us occupied.

Alaska Day 4

Harbor Seals, Bears, Mountain Goats, Sea Lions, Tufted Puffins, Wolves, Bald Eagles, and Krill – Oh My.

Krill?? One of the naturalists scooped some water from Glacier Bay, put it under the microscope, and projected the image on a screen. We saw krill, very young clams, and other cool stuff.

We woke this morning in Glacier Bay National Park, right next to Johns Hopkins Glacier. We had wonderful views of several glaciers and saw and heard some calving.
Click here for a slide show of more glaciers. Use your browser's "back" arrow to return to the blog.

But we also saw some great wildlife. There were lots of harbor seals hauled out on the icebergs in front of the glaciers. We watched a couple of brown bears in a salmon stream, one of which was a master fisherman. I saw her (according to the park naturalist who came on board for this part of the trip it was a female) scoop up and eat two salmon within a short period of time. Then we watched several mountain goats climbing around on Gloomy Knob; Stellar sea lions hauled out on the rocks;and a group of tufted puffins in the water below. Then we moved on and in two different spots saw a black wolf which we were able to watch for quite a while. What a treat. And just about everywhere we stopped we saw bald eagles. There were other birds as well such as parasitic jaegers, scoters, pelagic cormorants, and various gulls.

Alaska Day 3

Today’s weather was more typical of southeast Alaska – cloudy and rainy all day. But that didn’t impede our activities. We started the day by watching sea otters floating past the boat and bald eagles flying overhead. After breakfast we kayaked around the Shaw Islands off Chichagof Island and then hiked up Fox Creek. While kayaking we saw humpback whales blowing in the distance, more sea otters, and a group of harbor seals. I’ve always wanted to kayak through kelp and finally had my chance. It is really strange stuff. It was so thick in spots we just sort of slid over the top. On the hike we saw more salmon going up a very small stream and a river otter that had caught one.

After lunch we took a zodiac ride around the Inian Islands as the tide was coming in from the Pacific bringing more salmon. We had great fun with the Stellar sea lions who came to investigate the boat. We also saw more sea otters and interesting birds.

Another great day in southeast Alaska.

Alaska Day 2

This was a very long day. Despite not getting to sleep until about 10 PM local time, we were awake at 3 AM. Ah, the joys of jetlag.

But what a great day. It started before breakfast with several humpback whales sighted near the ship. Then a group of about 6 humpback whales using bubble nets to feed was sighted. The ship changed course and followed them for quite a while. While watching the whales we also saw a brown bear with two cubs walking along a salmon spawning stream and bald eagles also at that stream.

After breakfast we loaded into the zodiacs to go ashore for hiking and kayaking. Here is the ship as seen from the zodiac.The landing spot was near a salmon stream and there were two brown bears fishing at the mouth of the stream. We saw them from the kayak and then W saw them again when he took a hike.

The kayaking was nice, but we really missed our own boat and equipment. We got back to the ship in time for a late lunch; then the ship went back into Chatham Strait for more whale watching. There was an even bigger group of whales bubble net feeding (about a dozen) and young ones breeching and generally trying to get their mothers’ attention. We heard trumpet blowing for the first time. The more common blows are eerie enough – a very primordial sound. The trumpet blows are even more so.

Click here for a slide show of feeding whales. Use your browser's "back" arrow to return to the blog.

In addition, the weather was wonderful – warm and sunny. By late afternoon I actually left the whale watching and went back to the cabin because I’d had too much sun, which is not a problem you usually have in southeast Alaska.

Alaska Day 1

Today we flew from Seattle to Sitka to begin our journey with
Lindblad Expeditions. Sitka Tours took us on an exploration of Sitka including the Russian Orthodox Church, Raptor Rehabilitation Center, and Cultural History Museum. We’d been to these places on our visit in 1995 but this time there was an important difference – the sun was out. It was a beautiful day that had the natives exclaiming. Since southeast Alaska is a temperate rain forest, they don’t see the sun very often. This sign in the local bookstore gives an indication of the more typical climate.
One thing we had not seen before, due to time of year, was salmon spawning. We saw huge numbers swimming up the stream near the cultural center and also lots of dead ones.

Like all good tourists, we (or rather I) shopped. But in my case it was in a quilting store!! I found great Alaska-themed fabric that will be incorporated in a quilt I plan to make as a Christmas gift.

At 5:30 (which was 9:30 PM body time – we had forgotten that southeast Alaska is 4 hours different from the east coast, not 3) we boarded ship and immediately felt at home, since we’d been on this ship or its sister ship twice before.

We got an introduction to the ship and our fellow passengers and were on deck as the ship left the dock. What a beautiful place.