We woke up this morning to a stunning sunrise as we docked at the village of Queen Charlotte. It was quite the welcome, as we began one of the main cultural highlights of the expedition here at Haida Gwaii. We spent the first part of our day touring the Haida Heritage Centre. There, we learned about the culture and history of the Haida as we walked through the museum and listened to the stories behind each of the totem poles outside the facility. After another delicious lunch aboard National Geographic Sea Bird, we enjoyed a beautiful hike on Spirit Lake Trail. We learned about many of the endemic plants and their uses from our Haida Gwaii cultural interpreter, Linda Tollas. Following dinner, Linda gave an insightful presentation on the cedar tree’s significance to her beautiful ancestral homeland.
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 04 Sep 2018
Village of Queen Charlotte, Haida Gwaii, 9/4/2018, National Geographic Sea Bird
- Aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird
- Alaska
Jared Funderburk, Naturalist
Jared grew up in the Carolinas with a passion for exploring the natural world. He has always felt most at home in the great outdoors, and there is nothing he enjoys more than sharing these experiences with others. His enthusiasm is contagious and bei...
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Voyage to Alaska, British Columbia and Haida Gwaii
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Tracy Arm
As we continued our way north through Alaska, we had a favorite stop of mine in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness. We had a rainy day, which I enjoy because we can see at higher elevations since the rain turns to snow and, in turn, the snow feeds the absorption zone of the Sawyer Glaciers. We went out in the Zodiacs and navigated around the icebergs and bergy bits, even collecting a piece for the ice melt-off challenge. Once underway out of Tracy Arm, we saw some humpback whales. One whale had an entanglement of line on its fluke. The line was causing an obvious cut to the marine mammal. The correct authorities were notified about the condition of the whale and location of the sighting. Hopefully the whale will be assisted soon and the entanglement removed. Several other humpbacks were seen shortly after, luckily no entanglements on these. They were demonstrating surface feeding behavior, with one lunge feeding and the other making bubbles to catch its prey.