This morning as we cruised north between Baranof and Admiralty Islands, we watched carefully for marine mammals coming to the water's surface to breathe. At Chaik Bay, along the west shore of Admiralty Island, we found humpback whales. One of them, a distant, solitary animal, breached (jumped) a few times. Close by the ship, a mother and her five-month old calf swam slowly and rested at the surface. We watched quietly and listened as they exhaled and inhaled, and swam at a very leisurely pace. While we weren't watching the humpbacks, we observed two distant brown bears amble along a stony beach. They were probably eating barnacles and mussels, a very abundant food source along these shores. Eventually the bears disappeared into the tall grass behind the beach. We quietly backed away from the mother humpback and her young calf, and we continued along our way.
After lunch we dropped anchor in Hanus Bay, along the northeast edge of Baranof Island. Many of us hiked in the beautiful temperate rain forest here. We were treated to close looks at fresh brown bear tracks; they had used the same trail we were enjoying. The forest edge and interior had colorful, scattered wildflowers, and many berry-bearing shrubs were just flowering. In the river, early salmon were just starting to arrive. Later, bears in Southeast Alaska will have plentiful berries and protein rich salmon to eat. At this time of year, they eat grasses, sedges and shoreline invertebrates.
In the kayaks we were able to quietly and leisurely explore the coves and inlets at the river's mouth. Within minutes, nearly everyone had seen a brown bear in grass right above the shoreline.
