Chatham Strait & Redbluff Bay
Sunshine in Alaska! A blue sky! We began our early day in Chatham Strait, sailing south, next to Admiralty Island, also called “Fortress of the Bears”, as this is the place in the world with the highest density of bears. Brown or grizzlies, up to one individual per square mile! And all due to the incredible amount of salmon that these animals can catch during the salmon running season. And as we advanced south, we came upon a whole fleet of more than 50 ships, mostly purse-seiners, working hard to capture as many pink salmon as possible. We saw the whole process: launching of the net, the smaller power-skiff pulling it into a big circle, and back to the boat, and the pulling in of the net with a powerful winch. All to get a good number of these delicious fish unto our table!
From here we sailed further south to a lovely waterfall on Baranof Island, called Kasnyku Falls in the Bay with the same name. We had good opportunities to take pictures of it, and then south again, to Red Bluff Bay, another small bay on Baranof Island. Here we sailed slowly into the bay, enjoying the incredible number of small, medium and large waterfalls that dot the almost vertical cliffs. All this water is snow melt off. This was our station for staging a series of different activities for the day: kayaking and Zodiac cruising. Some guests saw a grizzly or brown bear very near the shoreline, and could approach it for a good photograph.
The rest of the day was spent savoring Red Bluff Bay waterfalls and cocktail hour, as well as dinner.
Sunshine in Alaska! A blue sky! We began our early day in Chatham Strait, sailing south, next to Admiralty Island, also called “Fortress of the Bears”, as this is the place in the world with the highest density of bears. Brown or grizzlies, up to one individual per square mile! And all due to the incredible amount of salmon that these animals can catch during the salmon running season. And as we advanced south, we came upon a whole fleet of more than 50 ships, mostly purse-seiners, working hard to capture as many pink salmon as possible. We saw the whole process: launching of the net, the smaller power-skiff pulling it into a big circle, and back to the boat, and the pulling in of the net with a powerful winch. All to get a good number of these delicious fish unto our table!
From here we sailed further south to a lovely waterfall on Baranof Island, called Kasnyku Falls in the Bay with the same name. We had good opportunities to take pictures of it, and then south again, to Red Bluff Bay, another small bay on Baranof Island. Here we sailed slowly into the bay, enjoying the incredible number of small, medium and large waterfalls that dot the almost vertical cliffs. All this water is snow melt off. This was our station for staging a series of different activities for the day: kayaking and Zodiac cruising. Some guests saw a grizzly or brown bear very near the shoreline, and could approach it for a good photograph.
The rest of the day was spent savoring Red Bluff Bay waterfalls and cocktail hour, as well as dinner.
