The early morning light of another cloudless day illuminated Hood Bay on the west coast of Admiralty Island as National Geographic Sea Lion navigated through its calm waters. Before breakfast, eager eagle-eyes discovered the first two of several brown bears and we all got the chance to watch once again the most powerful land creature of the region.
The bears were quietly eating grass on shore, patiently waiting until more nutritious meals – salmon – arrive. In fact, the bulk of the diet of this and most other members of the bear family is made of plant matter, including berries and other fruits, acorns, roots, the cambium layer of some tree bark, and grasses and leaves of many different species of plants. In Southeast Alaska, salmon give bears a tremendous amount of protein and fat that will keep them going throughout the fasting of their winter sleep; but before the big salmon runs start and the berries ripen, grasses comprise a big part of their diets.
As we sailed away from Hood Bay we encountered a solitary humpback whale which delighted us with the picturesque show of her flukes as she dived repeatedly into the depths.
We crossed Chatham Strait towards Baranof Island, where we anchored at a beautiful spot in Hanus Bay known as Lake Eva. There we divided into several groups and explored it by hiking, kayaking and, in my case, scuba diving. On land and above the water everyone had a great time admiring the magnificent Sitka spruce and Western hemlock trees, paddling the upriver while watching smolts and some adult sockeye salmon, or taking that great photograph that will help us to never forget the Tongass National Forest. Underwater, brown seaweed covered most of the bottom and provided refuge for Dungeness and helmet crabs, sea cucumbers, crimson anemones and slime, rainbow and sunflower sea stars, among many more creatures.
We eventually came back to our floating home and welcomed aboard Dr. Andy Szabo of the Alaska Whale Foundation, who talked to us about the humpback whales that use this area as their summer feeding grounds. And with bears, sea stars and whales in our minds, we ended another day of exploration in beautiful Southeast Alaska.
