This morning we explored one of the favorite locations of just about all the naturalists on board, the Inian Islands. Today we saw amazing things, including a minke whale surfacing about 15 feet away from the boat. We saw dozens of humpback whales, one of which came within 6 feet of the boat and turned on its side to check us out. We saw hundreds of Steller sea lions and two sea otter moms with babies.

Then we took a short jaunt to tiny George Island and went on a gorgeous hike through the temperate rain forest to find a World War II gun, built to protect the Inside Passage. For the first time on George Island, we found bear scat! At the end of our time on George Island, many guests stripped down to their bathing suits and did a polar plunge from the beach.