Fox Creek & Shaw Islands, Pt. Adolphus, Southeast Alaska
Today, Southeast Alaska opened to us. Although we have enjoyed the rich color and wildlife brought out by the week’s rain, when we awoke to flat seas and silver light in Idaho Inlet, we knew the day held great promise. Large rafts of sea otters napped, gamboled, and paddled about in the early hours and the sky gapped blue.
After breakfast, we anchored in the sunny stretch of water between the Shaw Islands and Fox Creek and set out to explore by kayak and Zodiac. It was a morning of rare and quiet beauty. In the woods, hermit thrush and winter wrens sang above us as we walked trails made by bears and deer in their many journeys from stream to shore. Near a thick stand of skunk cabbage, we wondered at a set of tracks made by bear after bear, stepping directly into one another’s footprints over many seasons. To see evidence of such precision from animals that can seem so lumbering awed us all.
Meanwhile, kayakers glided through calm waters, looking down at sea stars, sliding over kelp beds, and listening to the long breaths of a humpback whale in the distance. Rounding the back side of Shaw Island, out of sight of the ship, we had a sense of Alaska on its own terms, unmediated. Harbor seals popping up behind our boats seemed to be equally curious about us.
We cruised to Pt. Adolphus after a lunchtime barbecue on deck and were lucky to find an almost overwhelming abundance of humpback whales (scattered with harbor porpoise, Steller’s sea lions, and harbor seals). We lowered the hydrophone to listen to a group of six large adult humpbacks traveling in tight formation, but it turned out we didn’t even need such specialized technology. One member of the group made long and guttural exhalations that groaned over the water, sounding almost like a very large Steller’s sea lion. When we turned from the group, a humpback calf caught our attention with its extravagant tail lobbing and other aquatic feats. It was difficult to pull away—only curiosity about what we could find tomorrow allowed us to leave these amazing creatures tonight.
Today, Southeast Alaska opened to us. Although we have enjoyed the rich color and wildlife brought out by the week’s rain, when we awoke to flat seas and silver light in Idaho Inlet, we knew the day held great promise. Large rafts of sea otters napped, gamboled, and paddled about in the early hours and the sky gapped blue.
After breakfast, we anchored in the sunny stretch of water between the Shaw Islands and Fox Creek and set out to explore by kayak and Zodiac. It was a morning of rare and quiet beauty. In the woods, hermit thrush and winter wrens sang above us as we walked trails made by bears and deer in their many journeys from stream to shore. Near a thick stand of skunk cabbage, we wondered at a set of tracks made by bear after bear, stepping directly into one another’s footprints over many seasons. To see evidence of such precision from animals that can seem so lumbering awed us all.
Meanwhile, kayakers glided through calm waters, looking down at sea stars, sliding over kelp beds, and listening to the long breaths of a humpback whale in the distance. Rounding the back side of Shaw Island, out of sight of the ship, we had a sense of Alaska on its own terms, unmediated. Harbor seals popping up behind our boats seemed to be equally curious about us.
We cruised to Pt. Adolphus after a lunchtime barbecue on deck and were lucky to find an almost overwhelming abundance of humpback whales (scattered with harbor porpoise, Steller’s sea lions, and harbor seals). We lowered the hydrophone to listen to a group of six large adult humpbacks traveling in tight formation, but it turned out we didn’t even need such specialized technology. One member of the group made long and guttural exhalations that groaned over the water, sounding almost like a very large Steller’s sea lion. When we turned from the group, a humpback calf caught our attention with its extravagant tail lobbing and other aquatic feats. It was difficult to pull away—only curiosity about what we could find tomorrow allowed us to leave these amazing creatures tonight.
