The Icy Strait Region, Southeast Alaska
Ice Strait is the body of water between northern Chichagof Island and the mainland of Alaska to the north. With every tidal exchange, water from the North Pacific Ocean sweeps in through the narrow strait as the tide rises, and out as the tide falls. In and out, two tidal cycles each day. The incoming tides bring nutrients from the ocean, nutrients that fuel productivity, and they bring the salmon that have grown up in the ocean and now are returning to the freshwater streams and lakes of Southeast Alaska to spawn and then die. These two - local productivity and returning salmon - make Icy Strait an important part of the Southeast Alaska ecosystem and a great place for us to interact with wildlife. So we did.
The steam rising from hot mugs of coffee blended with a morning fog that rose from the still water as our ship crept into Idaho Inlet, a narrow gouge into Chichagof Island. As we watched, the surface of the water was broken by a small, dark floating object. It resolved into two - the head and feet of a sea otter floating on its back. Soon the deck was crowded with excited watchers. Once sea otters were hunted nearly to extinction. Their soft, luxurious pelts were sold in China, each for the equivalent of a Russian seaman's annual wage. By the mid 1800s, they were gone from much of their former range and Russia lost interest in its American colony. Alaska was sold to the United States for the bargain price of $7.2 million. It took an active program of reintroduction to bring the sea otters back to their former range where we saw them this morning, floating serenely all around our ship.
We left the ship for morning walks at Fox Creek, after wading ashore through a dense stand of kelp stranded by the low tide. The site offers a mixture of shoreline and streamside vegetation, coastal meadow, Old Growth Forest, and perched muskeg bog. In various groups, we explored all of these, admiring the late-season flowers and occasionally sampling the wild Alaskan berries: watermelon berries, salmon berries, and bush blueberries.
Following lunch, we made a brief stop at the funky island community of Elfin Cove (winter population: about 12; summer population: about 200.) There are no roads; the dwellings and sport fishing lodges are all connected along a boardwalk. The highlight, though, was a pair of male killer whales or orca (identified as males by their tall, erect dorsal fins) that cruised past our ship as we waited to board the Zodiacs. They cruised past the Elfin Cove dock, and then went on their way. So did we.
The Inian Islands sit where Icy Strait meets Cross Sound and the open Pacific Ocean. The changing tides, pinched between the islands, create impressive currents and concentrate the incoming salmon, making it a perfect place for Steller's or Northern sea lions to hang out and feed. Zodiac cruises provided close encounters with these creatures. These were mostly males - young ones waiting to grow large enough to breed, and older ones recovering from the rigors of the last breeding season. Some of us even had a close encounter with a gang of humpback whales diving in close coordination. If only we could see just how they coordinate their behavior when they are below the water surface.
