Chatham Strait and Lake Eva
An early morning cruise of Red Bluff Bay served as a great excuse for an early morning wake up call. Precipitous walls sent cascades of water to the narrow fjord below. At the head of the bay we scanned the tall grass for signs of our four-legged counterpart, the coastal brown bear. The characteristic shoulder hump of this massive omnivore was clearly obvious as we watched several bears foraging for intertidal creatures. Coastal brown bears are a formidable predator but this morning we watched bears being much more grazer than killer.
Using the protection from the building south winds afforded by Kelp Bay, Third Mate Carter, Photo Instructor Alberto and I decided to explore the underwater realm of Kelp Bay. After examining the nautical charts of the area, we decided upon a particular offshore rock for respite from the rain. Following the rock sand interface we traced the 40 foot contour in search of all things slimy, squishy, scaled and spiny. After inspecting nearly a dozen crimson anemones, we finally found one harboring several candy stripe shrimp. These transparent, yellow and red striped shrimp are a treasure and highlight of any Alaskan dive. Continuing our dive we came upon an interesting ecological feature called an urchin barren. These areas are scoured of all things plant or algae by an unusually high density of urchins. These spiny-skinned sea star cousin graze constantly and can drastically change their environment by removing a very important home and food source for scores of other organisms. In a place once dense with kelp, urchins can turn a forest into a desert or nearly bare rock. In barrens, diversity and productivity suffers greatly. These barrens are generally a result of urchin predator removal. Exactly which animal has been removed here in Kelp Bay is unknown, but there’s a good chance that sea otters once kept urchin numbers in check. Hopefully sea otter conservation efforts will right our past wrongs and the kelp will return to Kelp Bay.
