We awoke this morning to a strange and unfamiliar sight: a huge, round, ball of light and warmth arising out of the east. It was the rising of the sun across Chatham Strait, over the distant mountains of the Coast Range that defines the border between the U.S. and Canada. What a sight after two days of overcast and rain. That was at 3:45 a.m.!
The rest of the morning was spent on board National Geographic Sea Lion cruising the eastern shore of Baranof Island and ducking into some of the most scenic and dramatic bays and inlets on the planet. The spectacular golden, early light was still with us as we entered the extremely narrow passage into Gut Bay. And the sights inside as the winding bay opened up to us were astounding: mirror-smooth water reflecting the forested mountain slopes and 4000-ft. snow-capped peaks.
A little later we entered another narrow passage that led us past the geologically unique red rocks of Red Bluff Bay where we had a glimpse of a brown bear, watched a river otter swimming across the bay and spotted a tundra swan gliding gracefully across the river mouth at the head of the bay. Then Dr. Andy Zabo joined us on board, after driving his boat down the strait from his home in Warm Springs Harbor, and gave us an extremely informative and interesting presentation about the Alaska Whale Foundation and their work with humpback whales in Southeast.
Moments after Andy finished his presentation, we rounded a corner, entered a small embayment and there lay Kasnyku Falls. The captain took Sea Lion within throwing distance of the falls that cascaded about 800 feet into the sea. Gigabyte after gigabyte of photo storage filled our camera memories and spectacular images filled our own memories. What an incredible morning!
During lunch Sea Lion made her way ever northward in Chatham Strait and sailed into Kelp Bay for our afternoon excursions on and around Pond Island. This lovely little island is home to some beautiful, rich forests and also to ponds created by beavers. We had a multitude of choices for exploring the island, from a brisk nature walk to a variety of photo walks to a very slow nature walk with time spent sitting in a meadow taking in the magic of the wild landscapes.
After the walks, some of us chose to hop into our kayaks and glide over the smooth waters around the island while others boarded our trusty inflatable boats (aka DIBs) and set out to explore further into the bay. Both groups came into the watery realms of feeding humpback whales and those in the DIBs actually observed the amazing dance of humpbacks cooperatively feeding…over and over and over again. For over an hour we watched from water level as the mammoth animals came surging from the depths with mouths agape and huge bodies frothing the water in one of the most spectacular displays in all of nature. What a day!
