Lowe Inlet, British Columbia

What an amazing and fun day we are having. Early in the morning we were pleasantly surprised to be surrounded by high peaks covered with green trees, casted by a light-blue halo; the moon is out, reflecting over the clouds, and sunrays announce our father star, the sun, and this new day. Our captain starts the engines and we are underway.

Today is a present, a gift from Mother Natures’ outstanding forest; as we navigate northward, we pass impressive waterfalls and slip through narrow channels between white-topped mountains.

After lunch we were ready to disembark for Lowe Inlet Provincial Marine Park. We went searching for an impressive waterfall where salmon will return to a lagoon for spawning within the next few months. As we start our walk we can see a tremendous amount of plants and lichens of all kinds. Water, soil, photosynthesis; this place is hard to describe. If you are a botanist you will be lost, for every inch has a species competing to survive. Overhead are the trees; some are more than 200 years old, so big you can hardly hug them. Only when you try this while looking up can you have a sense of the magnificence of these trees.

As soon as we reached open ground we were greeted by the prominent sound and view of this waterfall; we attained our goal and we wondered how very few of us are lucky enough to share a place like this. We wondered about the old-time explorers as well.

Back to where we disembarked for our water activities, some of us chose to kayak while others went for a Zodiac ride along the coast. Today we saw marbled murrelets, pacific loons, and harbor seals. A bit of overcast sky was accompanied with a soft rain, yet our spirits were as warm and shiny as they could be; we were having fun and sharing a common feeling of adventure.

Personally, it is emotionally overwhelming to absorb it all, the sights, the scents, the smiles, our new and old friends all together as a family; I’ve also learned about currents, the changing winds, rain, and all those factors which are taken into consideration for our safe travels.

I’m honored to write this daily expedition report, for only a few of us have the chance to be here and express our deep feelings of joy for many things, like …the food! Our galley crew is keeping us spoiled; the many flavors and colors of their cuisine are as delightful as this place.

We are now headed to our next destination; this is just the beginning of our adventure that becomes more exciting as we head towards Alaska.