Someone thumbed through their dictionary of superlatives this morning and came up with describing the landscape as “ridiculously gorgeous.” Under very un-rainforest clear blue skies we zipped around the Inian Islands in our little boats and gorged our senses with wildlife. Sea otters bobbed in the kelp, Steller sea lions thrashed fish for breakfast, humpback whales fed along the current lines, a bald eagle brought fish to its two large hungry chicks waiting in the nest; all ingredients that made our morning a success.
In stark contrast to most of our own hometowns, we visited the diminutive fishing community of Elfin Cove. A boardwalk circles most of the inner harbor, connecting neighbor to neighbor. A post office and general store provide delivery service and basic goods to the seasonally fluctuating population.
While we have a number of children on board this week, we all managed to find some aspect of our inner child as we romped around George Island. Maybe it was a peanut butter cookie induced stupor, fueled perhaps by the warm afternoon sun, but we ran up trails, scampered across the sandy beach, skipped rocks at the shoreline, splashed about in kayaks and took turns pushing each other on the magnificent swing perched between two Sitka spruce trees at the edge of the forest.
Pleasantly exhausted we returned to the mother ship Sea Bird and cleaned ourselves up, looking forward to tomorrow in Glacier Bay with great anticipation.
