Icy Strait and Cross Sound
Some of Alaska’s most impressive scenery surrounds Icy Strait and Cross Sound. These joined bodies of water connect the Inside Passage to the open ocean. With every tide, fierce currents race through this area, stirring nutrients to the sunlit surface. This stimulates tremendous primary productivity that attracts impressive creatures, such as sea lions, whales and us!
We began our day at the back of Port Althorp, a fjord cut into Chichagof Island. Now the home of sea otters, it is hard to imagine that the place once hummed with PBY floatplanes – during World War II, Port Althorp was a busy airbase.
After breakfast, we landed at George Island. Tide was quite low, so many of us explored the intertidal zone, particularly rich in this region near the open ocean. We found crabs, kelp and anemones, but perhaps the favorites were sea stars. We saw several species in bright colors – purple, orange or vermillion. The most spectacular were sunflower sea stars, huge, with many arms. We found two side by side, one grey with lavender highlights and the other a vivid tangerine tone.
We found bright color in the forest as well. Amanita mushrooms clustered around the trail. Most mushrooms are dull, slimy and toxic. Moreover, most have two nuclei per cell – pretty creepy! However, some, while deadly, are undeniably beautiful, and Amanitas are perhaps foremost among these. The trail continued to a huge gun peering from the forest out at Cross Sound. This weapon was installed during World War II to guard against Japanese warships.
Meanwhile, others were out kayaking. The coast of George Island is great to explore by boat, especially at low tide, when brilliantly colored sea stars, sponges and huge chitons can often be found. The paddle at George Island starts in a protected cove and goes out into gentle but impressive open ocean swell, culminating in a view of a beautiful arch cut by ocean waves. It is perhaps the finest short kayak route in all of Southeast Alaska!
The morning was so brilliant, and the beach at George Island so sunny and warm that we decided to have a beach lunch. Seated on driftwood, we dined on fancy sandwiches and tasty salads. The food was great, and the setting was unbeatable!
After lunch we motored to the nearby Inian Islands. This archipelago forms a block in Icy Strait where currents and wildlife are particularly impressive. Most evident were Steller sea lions, which swim about the Inians in huge numbers. When on the land, sea lions are imposing, even grand, but are not particularly graceful. We found them lying about in stinky piles, often roaring as they clambered over one another in brusque familiarity. In the water sea lions are transformed into swift and elegant creatures. They shot past our Zodiacs, soaring or flitting through the green water. Often they approached us in curious clusters, all eyes and bristling whiskers. At other times they did leaps or tricky flips, sometimes splashing us in their antics. There is one inescapable conclusion – being a sea lion is sometimes a lot of fun.
Some boaters had close encounters with humpback whales. To be in tiny boats with such imposing creatures is an awesome experience. Others found killer whales. It is lucky to find killer whales at all, and this was our second group – or maybe our first. Photographs revealed that these were the same whales we had seen the day before. All of us had traveled ninety miles in a few hours to meet again.
And at last, we headed off toward Gustavus to pick up our Park Naturalists. It was hard to imagine anything that could top our day in Icy Strait, but one place might – Glacier Bay!
