Today would be an exploration of the marine side of Southeast Alaska. The morning was spent at Fox Creek, a salmon stream later in the summer, which is a great place to dip into the forest and see plenty of “bear sign”. When a salmon stream is present bears tend to hang out in the area of the stream. One of their activities is to mark trails and trees with a physical sign that they are in the area. We saw bear scratch trees with bear hair imbedded in the bark along with multigenerational bear prints in the moss understory. Both were quite impressive relics of past bear travels in this prime spot along the coast.
After lunch, Mike Greenfelder gave us an introductory explanation of the flying birds we have and might see during our voyage. We then enjoyed a closer look at the Inian Islands by watercraft as we zipped into the narrow passage ways to view sea otters, Stellar sea lions and humpback whales. Our first good sightings of puffins were also had on the rides. The tidal currents in this area are well known for their confused state at full ebb or flood. Fish are forced to the surface and the marine mammals in this place take advantage and feed successfully. There were many sea lions devouring fish right in front of us. Several came close by, some larger than brown bears, swam slowly by to see what all the clicking was about.
Off to the north were the mountains of Glacier Bay National Park, our adventure for tomorrow.
