Cross Sound
The second day of our photo expedition was quite the follow up to the first. Our morning was filled with the George Island experience. A cobble granite beach greeted and invited us to explore this island both from a natural history and cultural history perspective. The small and medium sized trees told a story of human influence, but not the whole sale cutting of trees that have become the story here in the Tongass forest. In fact these cuts date back to World War II. For this was the front line in the defense of the inland waterway that would have given any enemy calm sailing all the way to Seattle. We saw the measure of that defense in an old gun emplacement that once protected these shores but now is being swallowed up by the ever encroaching spruce trees.
The afternoon was spent enjoying a less somber tone as we had a rare experience within a unique one. The tides were right for a Zodiac cruise in the Inian Islands where large Steller sea lions cavorted about performing swimming antics that made us think of reincarnation and what kind of animal we wanted to be. The groups of sea lions came by the boats at first curious and then playful, each seeing if they could splash better than the previous delinquent. All of a sudden a familiar but out of place sound was heard. It was the distinctive bark of a California sea lion! This was amazing. The California sea lion usually gives way to the much larger Steller’s in range somewhere in Washington State. Here was an animal well outside its range and realizing that its larger cousins were curious but also more aggressive than he had planned.
Later in the afternoon we cruised along the south side of Glacier Bay National park for tomorrow we would awake within it and the adventure would continue.
The second day of our photo expedition was quite the follow up to the first. Our morning was filled with the George Island experience. A cobble granite beach greeted and invited us to explore this island both from a natural history and cultural history perspective. The small and medium sized trees told a story of human influence, but not the whole sale cutting of trees that have become the story here in the Tongass forest. In fact these cuts date back to World War II. For this was the front line in the defense of the inland waterway that would have given any enemy calm sailing all the way to Seattle. We saw the measure of that defense in an old gun emplacement that once protected these shores but now is being swallowed up by the ever encroaching spruce trees.
The afternoon was spent enjoying a less somber tone as we had a rare experience within a unique one. The tides were right for a Zodiac cruise in the Inian Islands where large Steller sea lions cavorted about performing swimming antics that made us think of reincarnation and what kind of animal we wanted to be. The groups of sea lions came by the boats at first curious and then playful, each seeing if they could splash better than the previous delinquent. All of a sudden a familiar but out of place sound was heard. It was the distinctive bark of a California sea lion! This was amazing. The California sea lion usually gives way to the much larger Steller’s in range somewhere in Washington State. Here was an animal well outside its range and realizing that its larger cousins were curious but also more aggressive than he had planned.
Later in the afternoon we cruised along the south side of Glacier Bay National park for tomorrow we would awake within it and the adventure would continue.
