Cross Sound / Icy Straits
We spent our day in the vicinity of the northern entrance from the Pacific Ocean into the protected waters of Alaska’s Inside Passage. Our morning stop was at Fox Creek in Idaho Inlet, a deep gash into the northern end of Chichagof Islands, one of the three large “ABC” islands (Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof) of southeast Alaska. A persistent gentle mist dampened the vegetation but not our enthusiasm; this is, after all, a rain forest. The trail took us through a lush coastal meadow replete with wildflowers: chocolate lilies, shooting stars, buttercups, orchids (orchids in Alaska? Ah, yes – orchids of several species!) and the beach strawberry seen above, its white flowers promising flavorful treats to come. The berries are more likely harvested by brown bears than by humans, and we saw ample evidence that we shared this meadow and forest with bears – a bear trail where each passing bear places its feet in the very spots where previous bears had trod. Later, Bette Lu Krause told us how salmon bring nutrients from the sea, to be distributed into the forest as bears harvest and transport the salmon, and thus contribute to the productivity of the forest.
In the Inian Islands, which separate Cross Sound from Icy Straits, we found sea otters frolicking in the kelp and busily grooming their fur. It was the valuable fur of sea otters that led Russians to colonize Alaska shortly after the return of the survivors of the Bering expedition in 1742. Cruising into Dundas Bay on the mainland side, we paused to watch a black bear searching for a meal in the intertidal zone. And then came the crowning moment of this wonderful day: an encounter with humpback whales that included a series of breaches. We gasped as these leviathans, in quick succession, cast their bodies out of the water, turned in a graceful half-pirouette, and fell back into the sea with a mighty splash, each leap accompanied by a chorus of ooohs and aaahs from the foredeck of the Sea Bird.
We spent our day in the vicinity of the northern entrance from the Pacific Ocean into the protected waters of Alaska’s Inside Passage. Our morning stop was at Fox Creek in Idaho Inlet, a deep gash into the northern end of Chichagof Islands, one of the three large “ABC” islands (Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof) of southeast Alaska. A persistent gentle mist dampened the vegetation but not our enthusiasm; this is, after all, a rain forest. The trail took us through a lush coastal meadow replete with wildflowers: chocolate lilies, shooting stars, buttercups, orchids (orchids in Alaska? Ah, yes – orchids of several species!) and the beach strawberry seen above, its white flowers promising flavorful treats to come. The berries are more likely harvested by brown bears than by humans, and we saw ample evidence that we shared this meadow and forest with bears – a bear trail where each passing bear places its feet in the very spots where previous bears had trod. Later, Bette Lu Krause told us how salmon bring nutrients from the sea, to be distributed into the forest as bears harvest and transport the salmon, and thus contribute to the productivity of the forest.
In the Inian Islands, which separate Cross Sound from Icy Straits, we found sea otters frolicking in the kelp and busily grooming their fur. It was the valuable fur of sea otters that led Russians to colonize Alaska shortly after the return of the survivors of the Bering expedition in 1742. Cruising into Dundas Bay on the mainland side, we paused to watch a black bear searching for a meal in the intertidal zone. And then came the crowning moment of this wonderful day: an encounter with humpback whales that included a series of breaches. We gasped as these leviathans, in quick succession, cast their bodies out of the water, turned in a graceful half-pirouette, and fell back into the sea with a mighty splash, each leap accompanied by a chorus of ooohs and aaahs from the foredeck of the Sea Bird.
