A light mist covered us as we awoke this morning aboard the National Geographic Sea Lion. Rain had finally come to the Tongass National Rain Forest and it felt more like the Alaska I know than it has in quite a few days! Our plan this morning was to kayak and hike the bay at Port Althorp on the northern end of Chichagof Island.
As the tide receded here it exposed the beach and allowed for relatively easy walking along the shoreline. The saying here in Alaska is “when the tide is out, the table is set” and we found evidence in plenty of animals that had been, just like us, beach combing on the low tide. Brown bear footprints from a couple of different bears were left in the mud, at times trampling the footprints of Sitka black-tailed deer. Mussels and clams and scallops were strewn about and we enjoyed the sight and smells of the exposed shoreline.
Early afternoon found us in one of my personal favorite locations: the Inian Islands. It is here that the open Pacific Ocean surges through Inian Pass, bringing huge upwelling and lots of feeding opportunities for the likes of Steller sea lions, sea otters, and bald eagles. All were out in force and working on a mid-afternoon meal, much to the delight of excited watchers from our expedition landing crafts. Huge Steller sea lion bulls seemed to revel in surprising us by surfacing right next to us. This is the largest sea lion species in the world, with some bulls weighing more than the largest brown bear ever weighed in all of Alaska!
Mist and fog rolled in off the open Pacific, giving the entire afternoon an ethereal feeling. The moisture didn’t dampen our spirits as we explored all the nooks and crannies of this coastline finding feeding pigeon guillemots, a few tufted puffins, and of course lovable sea otters.
After a scrumptious crab cake dinner we headed for Bartlett Cove to pick up our Park Service ranger and Tlingit cultural interpreter for tomorrow’s adventures in Glacier Bay National Park. Stay tuned dear reader for more adventures!
