Icy Strait to Cross Sound
We started the morning with a little ocean motion as we navigated South Inian Pass. Not enough to make anyone seasick, but just enough to remind us how lucky we are that nearly this entire voyage is located in the Inside Passage. Our destination was George Island, a little gem with some of the best history and geology in Southeast Alaska. The geologic wonder is in the remarkable garnet-bearing granites on the beach and great gashes of fault zones that rip through the island. The historical part is that this island was used as a staging area by the U.S. Army during the battle to repatriate the Aleutians during World War II. There are lots of relicts on the island to tell this story, including the remnants of barracks, a commissary, and even a 6” artillery piece and shell magazine that was left behind.
After lunch we were joined in the lounge by Mary Jo Wild Lord, a resident of Elfin Cove, our next destination. Mary Jo told us what it was like to live in a town with 12 over-wintering residents that expands to several hundred during the summer when droves of sports-fishing tourists arrive. Elfin Cove has a Hollywood name and could be a set for a Hollywood movie or TV series with a totally picturesque boardwalk and a population of colorful characters and affable dogs. It also had some serious entrepreneurs under the age of 12 that were doing major retail business selling hand-made jewelry to visitors from the Sea Bird.
We saved the best part until the last – Point Adolphus! We always see marine mammals here for good reason. There is an upwelling current that brings good fish food near the surface and where there are good fish there is inevitably good whale watching – not to mention seals, sea lions, and porpoises. But our whale watching this day was way out there on the multi-sigma end of the bell-shaped curve. We had whales to the left of us and whales to the right and whales so close that we had to lean over the railing to see them blow and dive. We did not violate the Marine Mammal Protection Act – the humpbacks came to us, perhaps encouraged by our slow and careful maneuvering to avoid any kind of disturbance in their feeding pattern. Maybe they were using our ship as part of their feeding process. Whatever the reason for our close encounter with the Cetacean kind, even our seasoned naturalists were thrilled.
We started the morning with a little ocean motion as we navigated South Inian Pass. Not enough to make anyone seasick, but just enough to remind us how lucky we are that nearly this entire voyage is located in the Inside Passage. Our destination was George Island, a little gem with some of the best history and geology in Southeast Alaska. The geologic wonder is in the remarkable garnet-bearing granites on the beach and great gashes of fault zones that rip through the island. The historical part is that this island was used as a staging area by the U.S. Army during the battle to repatriate the Aleutians during World War II. There are lots of relicts on the island to tell this story, including the remnants of barracks, a commissary, and even a 6” artillery piece and shell magazine that was left behind.
After lunch we were joined in the lounge by Mary Jo Wild Lord, a resident of Elfin Cove, our next destination. Mary Jo told us what it was like to live in a town with 12 over-wintering residents that expands to several hundred during the summer when droves of sports-fishing tourists arrive. Elfin Cove has a Hollywood name and could be a set for a Hollywood movie or TV series with a totally picturesque boardwalk and a population of colorful characters and affable dogs. It also had some serious entrepreneurs under the age of 12 that were doing major retail business selling hand-made jewelry to visitors from the Sea Bird.
We saved the best part until the last – Point Adolphus! We always see marine mammals here for good reason. There is an upwelling current that brings good fish food near the surface and where there are good fish there is inevitably good whale watching – not to mention seals, sea lions, and porpoises. But our whale watching this day was way out there on the multi-sigma end of the bell-shaped curve. We had whales to the left of us and whales to the right and whales so close that we had to lean over the railing to see them blow and dive. We did not violate the Marine Mammal Protection Act – the humpbacks came to us, perhaps encouraged by our slow and careful maneuvering to avoid any kind of disturbance in their feeding pattern. Maybe they were using our ship as part of their feeding process. Whatever the reason for our close encounter with the Cetacean kind, even our seasoned naturalists were thrilled.
