Sitkoh Bay & Pavlov Harbor
This first morning of our voyage, the bow of the National Geographic Sea Bird buzzed with excitement. The conspicuous white heads of bald eagles first commanded our attention. We counted as many as thirty as we traveled down Peril Strait, a narrow channel between Baranof and Chichagof Islands. Calm waters made viewing of marine animals relatively easy as well. A Steller’s sea lion paid us a visit and all along the way marbled murrelets skittered off in all directions across the glassy water.
Soon we entered Sitkoh Bay. Though we scanned the beaches as best we could, a coveted animal sighting eluded us. Just before leaving the bay and reentering Peril Strait, however, a brown bear was spotted! Slowly plodding along among the rockweed, it granted us a nice viewing, but soon it retreated to the privacy of the forest.
As we cruised into Chatham Strait, once again calm waters afforded us easy viewing of wildlife. One of Alaska’s most magnificent marine mammals, a humpback whale logged on the surface a short distance away. As we drew near, it started to feed more actively, diving down and showing its distinctive flukes. A couple of times, we were lucky enough to witness a unique feeding behavior called bubble net feeding. Though less dramatic than when done by a large group of animals, this individual was able to produce its own ring of bubbles into which small schooling fish swim. The whale then rose to the surface, mouth wide open and in one gulp consumed an entire bait ball. Spotting the ring of bubbles and anticipating the whale’s emergence kept us on our toes.
Literally causing us to lean over the edge of the bow, a group of Dall’s porpoise jetted over and into the pressure wave at the front of the ship. We were fortunate in that they decided to stay for at least fifteen minutes. Its rooster-tail wake is evidence that this is an extremely fast animal. In fact, it is the fasted cetacean! What a treat!
After lunch we went ashore on Chichagof Island. The piercing chatter of the Pacific Slope Flycatcher lured us into a rich stream-side forest. The bear path, on which we traveled, however, wove in and out of the lush forest and flower-lined path of the shoreline. Nonetheless, we were delighted to experience a variety of habitats. Up and over a cascading creek, we finally made our way to a serene lake hidden among the trees. Though tranquil, thunder rumbled in the distance and excitement continued to be a theme for the day.
