Lake Eva
A perfectly beautiful Southeast Alaskan day (cloudy with sprinkles) filled with all the things that make this place so special: salmon, brown bears, eagles, big trees, salmon, brown bears, eagles, big trees… and like bookends to our rising and sleeping, humpback whales. Prior to breakfast we watched a cow/calf pair of humpbacks near the ship. The black underside of the flukes on the adult contrasted with the white underside of the calf’s flukes as much as their disparate sizes. We anchored in Hanus Bay and after breakfast went ashore for our first exploration of the Tongass National Forest via hikes and kayaking. The salmon stream draining from Lake Eva harbored scores of pink, red and dog salmon gathered in a deep pool. Just below the pool a series of small falls provide good fishing opportunities for brown bears (photo) and at least two were sighted, one with a fish in its mouth. Eagles called, loons tremolo-ed, ravens and kingfishers argued loudly as we made our way through the damp, green woods of hemlock and spruce.
After lunch we entered the wide open waters of Chatham Strait and enjoyed a slide presentation on the beauty of light in nature by our National Geographic representative and photographer, Kim Heacox. Soon thereafter, our attention was garnered by the blows of humpbacks and we slowed to take a look. Two hours later, after an incredible performance of bubble-net feeding by a lone whale, we decided to press on. Wine tasting and chocolates led us into dinner and we ended the day floating amongst more humpbacks in mirror-calm water, enchanted by the whales breathing and languid movements at the surface.
A perfectly beautiful Southeast Alaskan day (cloudy with sprinkles) filled with all the things that make this place so special: salmon, brown bears, eagles, big trees, salmon, brown bears, eagles, big trees… and like bookends to our rising and sleeping, humpback whales. Prior to breakfast we watched a cow/calf pair of humpbacks near the ship. The black underside of the flukes on the adult contrasted with the white underside of the calf’s flukes as much as their disparate sizes. We anchored in Hanus Bay and after breakfast went ashore for our first exploration of the Tongass National Forest via hikes and kayaking. The salmon stream draining from Lake Eva harbored scores of pink, red and dog salmon gathered in a deep pool. Just below the pool a series of small falls provide good fishing opportunities for brown bears (photo) and at least two were sighted, one with a fish in its mouth. Eagles called, loons tremolo-ed, ravens and kingfishers argued loudly as we made our way through the damp, green woods of hemlock and spruce.
After lunch we entered the wide open waters of Chatham Strait and enjoyed a slide presentation on the beauty of light in nature by our National Geographic representative and photographer, Kim Heacox. Soon thereafter, our attention was garnered by the blows of humpbacks and we slowed to take a look. Two hours later, after an incredible performance of bubble-net feeding by a lone whale, we decided to press on. Wine tasting and chocolates led us into dinner and we ended the day floating amongst more humpbacks in mirror-calm water, enchanted by the whales breathing and languid movements at the surface.
