Peril and Chatham Straits, Freshwater Bay
As we cruised this morning, majestic scenery surrounded us as we looked for wildlife from National Geographic Sea Lion’s bow. Our first encounter was a lunge feeding humpback whale. This leviathan would violently break the water’s surface as it engulfed entire schools of fish.
Shortly after breakfast, we went out on deck again to continue searching for interesting creatures. Our search paid off right away when we found a coastal brown bear sow with her two cubs, as they walked through the beach. Shortly after, all of them abruptly ran away. It was evident that they felt threatened by something. Indeed they were scared, another bear appeared, not too far from them. This second adult may have been a male, which in some cases can kill and eat cubs and even the females of their own species.
For the afternoon activities, we chose Pavlof Harbor, in Freshwater Bay. We explored Chichagof Island by foot, to discover the magic of the temperate rain forest. A lot of bear activity was seen from the very beginning of the hikes. We found beaver lodges, and marvelous waterfall with hundreds of spawning pink salmon.
Kayaking was the other option for the afternoon. From the water we could see the aggregations of salmon that prepared themselves to head upriver to conclude their life cycle, by spawning. The water was calm and the weather was very pleasant. Things could hardly get any better, and suddenly they did; from the heart of the forest, a coastal brown bear emerged towards the spawning stream with he intention of catching a fish or two. Everyone admired it in awe. Kayakers and hikers got to live the true Alaskan experience of watching a bear splashing around the spawning salmon right in front of their eyes.
This was the first day of our expedition, and this was just a taste of the pristine wilderness of this remote and untamed land.
