The gentle melody of rain hitting the decks and port lights of National Geographic Sea Lion harmonized with expedition leader Rab Cummings voice updating the ship as to our morning activities in Thomas Bay. Our ultimate destination for the day is Petersburg, Alaska, but throwing in a pit stop to hike and explore the forest is the way we like to expedition here at Lindblad Expeditions. Thomas Bay is well protected making for quick small boat shuttles to shore.
Cascade Creek pours across the intertidal zone, hinting at tremendous power up stream. We enter the forest and work our way along a good trail just inside the alders to a point where we can cut into the forest along the creek that really seems more like a small river. After passing through a consistent understory of dwarf dogwood, fern-leaf golden-thread, and many varieties of ferns, we arrive at the source of the roaring we heard since landing on the beach, a large cascade sending mist away from the creek. The heavy mosses on surrounding trees suggest this cascade constantly runs at this volume, pounding at the underlying substrate and satiating the surrounding greenery. Some of us continue our walks beyond this point, others admire the scene and return to the ship, but we all thoroughly enjoyed our time in nature immensely and learned a great deal.
Just after lunch, we tie up at the marina in Petersburg. The afternoon affords many opportunities to get out and enjoy all that Petersburg has to offer including muskeg walks, flightseeing, biking, and just soaking in the deeply rooted Norwegian culture that keeps this small Alaskan fishing town on a somewhat even keel. Particularly unique for our guests is the chance to talk with local fishermen who are preparing their boats for various season openings as the salmon are starting to come back to their streams in full force. We get to see purse-seiners, trollers, and gill-netters, all different styles of boat for accomplishing the same task, catching fish and making money.
While we slowly make our way back to the boat, the galley staff procured local Dungeness crab and prepared an all-you-can-eat crab extravaganza complete with buns, slaw, ribs, corn and potatoes. Some folks work hard to eat every cob of corn on the boat as fast as possible. Others slowly work every bit of crab out of the nooks and crannies of its shells and made piles of meat on their plates that their spouses slyly pick from while the jovial group distract everyone’s attentions. This is one more day for the record books.
