Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof are large islands enveloped by rain forest and laced with salmon streams. This morning we focused our activities around a tannin-stained river that empties into Freshwater Bay at the edge of Chichagof Island. Abundant salmon and freshwater attracted native Tlingits, early traders, and fish processing operators over the years. Brown bears too come to this stream for the salmon run in late summer.
Our original plan to hike for the morning changed when early scouts discovered a bear near the landing. In the hopes of viewing this charismatic creature, we climbed into the inflatable boats and carefully approached. A short distance upstream a tumbling waterfall became visible along with a fish ladder that enhances the ascent of salmon from the sea to Pavlof Lake. Two bears intently scanned the shallows for a breakfast of fresh fish. We quietly watched, entranced. As the morning progressed, we returned with other rounds of boats bringing crew, guests, and staff close enough to observe these two and six other individuals come and go. A sow with two cubs of the year appeared briefly before melting back into a dark thicket of vegetation. Finally it was time to leave these magnificent creatures to their fishing and continue into Chatham Strait for a late afternoon hike.
Pond Island is well-named for the interconnected marshy wetlands that occur here. Beavers have manipulated the landscape with dams, lodges, and fallen trees. Towering cedars, spruce, and hemlock rise in elevated sites above the soggy peat bogs known as muskegs. We wandered the intertidal strip and stomped through the forest into the squishy landscape where carnivorous plants called sundews nestle in the saturated moss. All too soon we returned to the ship.
Dr. Andy Szabo, Director of the Alaska Whale Foundation, joined us for the evening to offer a fun and informative presentation about the life histories of humpback whales and some of the research that he and other scientists have conducted. After dinner he boarded his skiff and zipped off to the small community of Baranof Warm Springs while we continued on our way towards tomorrow’s destinations in the Petersburg area.
