Sitkoh Bay – Chatham Straight


We awoke this morning as the National Geographic Sea Bird cruised into Sitkoh Bay. This small historic bay on the east coast of Chichagof Island had been the site of a Tlingit village in the 1800s, as well as a salmon cannery in the 1900s. But it is the nature we came to see. There were three brown bears: a mother bear and her two offspring. We looked at them as they ate and walked though the grass near the shoreline. Then, the mother looked up the stream and saw something that alarmed her (possible a male bear). Suddenly, she ran away from the stream, with the two smaller bears following close behind.

We went ashore this morning to go hiking and kayaking in Sitkoh Bay. The hikers walked through the forest. It was fascinating to compare the old growth rain forest of predominately huge hemlock trees with the secondary growth forest of alder and spruce. We saw and heard a variety of animals, such as a Sitka deer, ravens, thrushes, and bald eagles. The kayakers experienced their first Alaska wilderness kayaking, as they paddled around the bay seeing a wide variety of birds.

Lunch was served on this sunny day outdoors on the deck on the ship. The cooks barbequed chicken and beef for us, and we created our own ice cream sundaes for dessert.

As soon as we entered Chatham Straight, we spotted our first humpback whale of the day. We spent several minutes observing its breathing and diving behaviors. We cruised all afternoon up the Chatham Straight, which is the largest and deepest fiord in North America. The kids on board the ship got to go up to the bridge and take turns steering the ship and blowing the ship’s horn with the captain and second mate. We stopped several times to observe other humpbacks feeding, breathing, and diving. It was great to see the different behaviors of each one.

After dinner, the National Geographic Sea Bird cruised northwest down Icy Straight. For two hours, we could see the sun set behind clouds over the Fairweather Range, which is the south end of the highest coastal range on the continent. The strangest thing about this spectacular sunset was that it was almost due north of us, since we are at such a high latitude.

We arrived at Point Adolphus at sunset to watch several humpbacks feeding and diving all around us. There were a dozen whales in every direction, as well as gulls, marbled murrelets, and bald eagles flying all around. They all were here to feed on the abundant sea life that congregates here every summer, where the tidal currents converge and mix the nutrients up. It was a wonderful experience to be able to see so many whales in every direction, but the best thing was hearing them breath in the silence. Several of us stayed up past 11:00, until darkness finally descended upon the northern wilderness.