Chatham Strait
Summer has official sprung on this glorious day in Southeast Alaska. Our forest walks this morning in Florence Harbor on Chichagof Island were among freshly opened ferns and towering devils club within the Sitka spruce trees. The temperate forest surrounding Sitkoh Bay was a cacophony of birds like the song of the winter wren and the calls of the ravens and bald eagles. On the longer walk we counted about a dozen banana slugs processing the forest matter, ranging in variety from pure white to black speckled. A group of kayakers set out at low tide to explore the inner tidal zones in the bay. Guests brought back great photographs of red sea stars attached to the rocks, harbor porpoises surfacing and great blue herons hunting at the shoreline.
In the afternoon we cruised south along Chatham Strait on the leeward side of Baranof Island dipping into Kasnyka Bay to see Hidden Falls cascading off of the snow covered mountain and the vertical cliffs of Takatz Bay. Shortly after our naturalist Larry Hobbs gave an entertaining talk about his years of studying and tagging Cetaceans, the guests were treated to humpback whales sounding and showing their flukes just off the bow of National Geographic Sea Lion.
The crew once again amazed us with their culinary skills and kindness. Just as desert was being cleared from our tables, Captain David Sinclair slowed the ship as we entered the narrow gap leading into Gut Bay. This certainly was a special treat to visit this beautiful fjord located on the eastern edge of South Baranof Wilderness. Waterfalls cascaded into the green water and the last light of this long summer day cast its golden light on the iconic Mount Ada. What an exclamation point to yet another fine day in Southeast Alaska!
