Pavlov Harbor and Chatham Straight
Think southeast Alaska. Think temperate rainforest. What images pop into your head? Green glistening moss. Mighty mist-shrouded trees. Blue bobbing bergy bits. Slick swimming salmon. Blistering heat and relentless sun. Cloudless skies and flat calm seas. Wait a second. Heat and sun and blue skies? These may not be typical features of this region, but they have certainly dominated our trip thus far. Today the sun rose at the unbelievable hour of three forty-six a.m. and set eighteen hours and forty minutes later. Mirages draped themselves over the horizon. Wisps of cloud and fog scattered under the brilliant white light and heat. Guests lingered on the bow late into the evening, savouring the purple and golden waters of the fading day.
Our day was filled with various missions that were successfully accomplished. We kayaked among the placid waters of Pavlov Harbor and wandered through the forest to Pavlov Lake. There we were greeted by the hypnotic greens of horsetails, lady ferns and sedges randomly rustling beneath the snow-draped peaks. Delicately perfumed white bog orchids dotted the edge of the lake, while red-breasted sapsuckers darted amidst the hemlocks of the forest. We returned to a deck barbecue replete with ice cream sundaes and sangria.
Our bellies full, we left the waters of Freshwater Bay and immediately encountered several humpback whales, including a mother and her calf. To our surprise, a group of four to five killer whales suddenly appeared in their midst, then dove deep under the waters. After a few moments of tense anticipation, the killer whales resurfaced at the mouth of the bay and the humpbacks seemed to scatter in the opposite direction. We followed the killer whales for a while and noticed that the male in the group had an unusually shaped dorsal fin that was bent over at the tip. These animals can be identified by the size and shape of their dorsal fins and saddle patches, and researchers have developed a library of photo-identified individuals. Using this catalogue we hypothesized that these were members of the AL assemblage of transient killer whales and tentatively identified the male as AL40. Dozens of minutes and photos later we continued our voyage north towards the waters of Icy Straits and Glacier Bay.
The afternoon passed like a pleasant dream. Humpback whales came and went, including a memorable breach from a feisty young calf traveling with its mother. As the sun set and the bar opened, we paused to watch one last whale breathe and feed in the twilight. Another perfect day.
Think southeast Alaska. Think temperate rainforest. What images pop into your head? Green glistening moss. Mighty mist-shrouded trees. Blue bobbing bergy bits. Slick swimming salmon. Blistering heat and relentless sun. Cloudless skies and flat calm seas. Wait a second. Heat and sun and blue skies? These may not be typical features of this region, but they have certainly dominated our trip thus far. Today the sun rose at the unbelievable hour of three forty-six a.m. and set eighteen hours and forty minutes later. Mirages draped themselves over the horizon. Wisps of cloud and fog scattered under the brilliant white light and heat. Guests lingered on the bow late into the evening, savouring the purple and golden waters of the fading day.
Our day was filled with various missions that were successfully accomplished. We kayaked among the placid waters of Pavlov Harbor and wandered through the forest to Pavlov Lake. There we were greeted by the hypnotic greens of horsetails, lady ferns and sedges randomly rustling beneath the snow-draped peaks. Delicately perfumed white bog orchids dotted the edge of the lake, while red-breasted sapsuckers darted amidst the hemlocks of the forest. We returned to a deck barbecue replete with ice cream sundaes and sangria.
Our bellies full, we left the waters of Freshwater Bay and immediately encountered several humpback whales, including a mother and her calf. To our surprise, a group of four to five killer whales suddenly appeared in their midst, then dove deep under the waters. After a few moments of tense anticipation, the killer whales resurfaced at the mouth of the bay and the humpbacks seemed to scatter in the opposite direction. We followed the killer whales for a while and noticed that the male in the group had an unusually shaped dorsal fin that was bent over at the tip. These animals can be identified by the size and shape of their dorsal fins and saddle patches, and researchers have developed a library of photo-identified individuals. Using this catalogue we hypothesized that these were members of the AL assemblage of transient killer whales and tentatively identified the male as AL40. Dozens of minutes and photos later we continued our voyage north towards the waters of Icy Straits and Glacier Bay.
The afternoon passed like a pleasant dream. Humpback whales came and went, including a memorable breach from a feisty young calf traveling with its mother. As the sun set and the bar opened, we paused to watch one last whale breathe and feed in the twilight. Another perfect day.
