George Island /Elfin Cove/Inian Islands
Fog shrouded our ship early in the morning. Visibility was not good, but the first animal we saw in the water was a sea otter. It almost ignored us, swimming slowly away from the path of our ship. The next animal we saw was a Steller sea lion, with its head very much out of the water, looking at us with those big, cow eyes. Then off in the distance a Dall’s porpoise, wending its way through the water at a fantastic speed, as this animal is known to be the fastest cetacean in the world (yet orcas or killer whales hunt them). Next were harbor porpoise, very shy and avoiding us completely. They are smaller than the Dall’s porpoise.
We were soon at our morning’s destination, George Island. This island was inhabited by members of the U.S. Army during WWII. With the threat of the Japanese navy attacking this part of Alaska, defenses were made in the area. On this island a big 6 inch (150mm) gun was positioned quite high above the water level. Barracks for the crew were built and were ready for a Japanese attack during the duration of the war. It never came!
On this island we did our hikes, and had some delicious kayak time to visit the area on the water. On we went after lunch, to the small community of Elfin Cove. This small group of houses has no roads, only boardwalks, as it hangs from the face of a hill. Here we visited the town and were soon back aboard our National Geographic Sea Lion. A short distance away we anchored again, in a place with a lovely name: the Hobbit Hole. Here we took out on our Zodiacs and visited a haul-out of Steller sea lions. Here we watched them, as they came out to us in groups, with their fantastic curiosity. They came in groups of 4 to 8 or more, and stared at us with those huge eyes! One of them showed off his mighty teeth! So we went further around a large island, out into the open Pacific, and almost immediately saw two horned puffins flying around us in circles. Besides them, there were pigeon guillemots and cormorants, as well as a few different gulls. Around we kept on, and saw more Steller sea lions, as well as a humpback whale off in the distance. Back to the ship! And to an interesting recap!
