Today began brightly with clear skies and beaming sun above us. Our first visitation was to George Island, a historic military outpost during WWII. Some guests ventured out in kayaks, rounding the island to see the spectacular sea stacks and famous windowed hole through the isle. Others took the island by foot, traversing the rolling landscape to witness the dense understory of the temperate rain forest floor. At its top, the island boasts a magnificently large gun–one of nine set in place to protect the Alaskan shores, yet none were ever used. Upon the beach we found the tracks of river otters and Sitka black-tailed deer, but the best sightings were of the shore birds like the black oystercatcher and the whimbril.
The afternoon took us to a staff favorite–the Inian Islands. Being the most northerly point where the Pacific Ocean enters the waters of Southeast Alaska, it is truly a wonder to behold. When the tides shift, an event that happens four times a day, the feeding frenzy begins. Countless birds swarmed overhead as the whirlpools formed. The Steller sea lions abandoned their haul outs in search of fish that had been raised to the surface against their will by the incoming current. Even the humpback whales are savvy to the occurrence, swimming against the tide to allow the myriad of bait fish to find a home within their stomachs. The stars of the show though were, as usual, the sea otters. Dotting along the shoreline, they bobbed–some with newborn young in tow, while others stacked their bellies with freshly foraged items, including sea urchins and basket stars. In the evening, the weather held, allowing us to have cocktail hour upon the bridge deck in view of the Fairweather mountain range. Today is proof of something long understood–Alaska provides.
