Bay of Pillars and cruising Chatham Strait
Today, in the spirit of exploration, we ventured to the rarely visited wilderness just south of Kuiu Island. The National Geographic Sea Lion only draws 8 feet of water, which makes it the perfect vessel for remote adventures to seldom seen areas. Chasing the air of the unknown, we were rewarded with a great visit in Bay of Pillars. Sea otters were seen from the ship foraging through the nearby kelp forests, and we knew our fearless expedition leader Jen Martin had chosen wisely.
Two groups of guests went to hike through the lush forest, while other groups of kayakers and Zodiac cruisers decided to explore the wandering shoreline. The hikers returned with stories of an exciting walk and rewarding photographs of the brightly colored wildflowers exploding across an open meadow. A bald eagle sat perched only 25 feet overhead, and sat comfortably in his perch while everyone got good photos of their memorable encounter.
The kayakers returned raving about their experiences with the sea otters - many close views of the foraging fur-balls. Sea otters have as many as 500,000 hairs for every square inch, which some say is as many as a housecat has altogether. Because these cute creatures have no blubber, they rely on their dense fur and a ravenous appetite to keep themselves warm in the 40 degree water.
I, on the other hand, have the luxury of a drysuit and 4 layers of fleece to keep me warm underwater. As undersea specialist, I set out with scuba gear and a camera in hand in search of underwater life. As I jumped in the water and looked through my lens, I found myself surrounded by Lion’s mane sea jellies. Their long toxic tentacles make them a dangerous predator for some, but keeping a safe distance I got beautiful shots. Their tentacles can stretch as long as 120 feet, much longer than a fully grown blue whale.
It’s quite possible this area has never been dived before, so this was exploration at its finest. 40 feet down, I felt like Neil Armstrong, landing on a foreign world created by Dr. Seuss. My dive buddy and I found ourselves in a forest of giant plumose anemones towering towards the surface. Among the anemones were hundreds of various species of marine invertebrates – each more vibrant than the last. Hermit crabs whose shells had been fully engulfed by a sponge, a rare butterfly crab, and 6 species of sea stars including the largest on planet earth. Sharing the images with everyone onboard brought excitement and shed light to the seldom seen underwater world.
This afternoon we cruised Chatham Strait in search of wildlife. We found a lovely mother Coastal brown bear with her two cubs foraging on the shoreline. Now after dinner, we found another Brown bear mother with her cute cub who has been standing up on his hind legs to observe the strange bipedal hominids. Today was yet another perfect day in Southeast Alaska.
