Today we enjoyed a great day exploring the northwestern area of the Inside Passage; it all started as we arrived to George Island shortly before breakfast. George is a small island north of the large Chichagof Island, not far from the small fishing community of Elfin Cove, and is facing the open water channel that is the northernmost entrance to the Inside Passage. Because of its strategic location, it is the site of a former WWII military outpost that guarded the entrance from a possible enemy invasion. Hikers today had the chance to visit an old gun that is still in place looking over the channel. Others decided to explore George Island by kayaking and had the opportunity to watch an abundance on marine life from their floating platforms, including pteropods, sea stars, and marbled murrelets. Tide-poolers marveled at the multitude of creatures that were exposed on shore by the low tide while Michelle—our head chef—and I went scuba diving to film some underwater video of sea stars, anemones, crabs, and many other creatures for everyone on board to see.
During lunch National Geographic Sea Bird sailed a short distance to the Inian islands, a small archipelago that acts as a bottleneck for the strong tidal currents that flow in and out of the northern Inside Passage several times every day. The currents, that during the spring tides can reach speeds of 8 to 10 knots and look more like a river than anything else, bring a lot of fish and small crustaceans with them; numerous Steller’s sea lions know about it and eagerly wait for their meal of halibut, salmon, or rockfish. Whenever one succeeded at catching a big fish, it proceeded to shake it violently at the surface, attracting numerous gulls, kittiwakes, and even bald eagles that looked for the leftovers. Oblivious to such frivolities, a few humpback whales cruised around and delighted us with their size and elegance while showing their flukes up in the air. What a great day in Southeast Alaska!
