Some mornings start earlier than others. Often the reason for an early start is less than desirable. When your expedition leader wakes you up at 6 a.m. with a sentence containing the word “Orca,” however, there are few things that could keep me down. That is exactly what happened on our first full day in Southeast Alaska as we entered a large, deep body of water known as Chatham Strait. For the next three hours killer whale blows and their large, sleek, black bodies could be seen in virtually every direction. Sometimes small satellite pods came within 100 meters of our ship. Other times the horizon was dotted with low, bushy blows and the telltale triangular shaped dorsal fin of our planets largest dolphin. An occasional sighting of black-tailed deer along the shore and a small group of Dall’s porpoise punctuated a morning full of incredible wildlife sightings that would make Jacques Cousteau jealous.
The afternoon would offer an introduction to the terrestrial highlights of Southeast Alaska. Dense, temperate rain forest, dominated by Sitka spruce and western hemlock trees ushered in our first landing on Baranof Island’s northern shore. Some chose to spend the entire afternoon on a three-mile hike to Lake Eva, skirting salmon streams and dodging brown bear encounters along the way. Others chose to split the afternoon between a kayak trip along the lush, kelp-rich coastline, and interpretive hikes into the heart of the forest. While kayakers were closely watched by skittish harbor seals the hikers took in the minutia of the Great Bear Rain Forest—from inconspicuous fungi (like bird’s nest fungus) to the hidden fruit of the clasping twisted stalk.
It’s not every trip we can check off three of Alaska’s major highlights in the first 24 hours—killer whales, brown bears, and hikes through this primordial forest ecosystem. If this is any indicator of the trip’s standard, we are in for a long, sleep-deprived treat!
