We woke up this morning in mega fog. Serious fog. Foggy fog. The good news is it didn’t last long. By breakfast time the clouds had broken and we were in the clear–blue skies and sun. Tiny fish jumped around the ship as we sailed to our morning anchorage and dropped our expedition landing craft for morning operations. Following a meal of delicious pancakes, we split into groups and headed out for adventures in DeGroff Bay!
Hikers hit the beach for an exciting exploration of the shoreline and beach meadows. We traversed rocks and forest, forded a placid ankle-deep stream, and followed deer tracks through surprisingly dry cracked clay. We grazed on beach asparagus, nibbled fresh spruce tips to ward off scurvy, and sampled chocolate lily roots. The hike culminated in a beautiful vista into the forest, complete with salmon spawning stream (minus the spawning salmon) and a knee-high waterfall. A few salmon skeletons from last season were found scattered along the stream edge, slightly encrusted in moss, baring fangs as a warning to visiting scavengers. On the way back hikers stumbled upon an absolute wildlife highlight: a banana slug oozing purposefully over a pile of old bear scat.
At another beach kayakers grabbed their paddles, leapt into their boats, and enjoyed a journey into DeGroff Bay. They spotted plentiful eagles, jellies, and sea stars as they crossed; placid expedition landing craft cruisers traveled around the area learning about the flora and fauna of the bay.
Following lunch, our photo instructor Ian gave an educational and entertaining presentation introducing digital photography, followed by hands-on breakout sessions. Later in the afternoon, as we headed through Peril Strait, we spotted a mother brown bear with two young cubs! The mother grazed nonchalantly on the beach, chowing mouthfuls of grass and eyeballing the ship periodically. There was a lot of excitement for our first megafauna of the trip! As we continued on our way, thunder and lightning crackled and dark clouds boiled ahead. Finally wind smacked those of us on the bow, followed momentarily by pelting sheets of rain. Within seconds, the bow was cleared of all hominids. Before cocktail hour a humpback made a solo appearance, impressing those brave enough to don rain gear and watch it bubblenet feeding right in front of us!
The evening concluded with a clearing clouds and a talk by naturalist Elise on the history of Alaska.
