Kelp Bay was our destination on the first day of our expedition. Under the shelter of the bay, we had a day full of surprises. Our first iconic Alaskan animal was a young brown bear walking along the shore. A mother and calf humpback whale pair were spotted cruising along the steep fjord’s edge, right next to the forest. Shortly after that, lunch was interrupted by a male killer whale that appeared right next to the dining room window!

After a morning of good wildlife sightings, we ventured ashore to explore Kelp Bay by foot. We found bear tracks and baby salmon in the streams. We learned about some edible and poisonous plants and ended the day with a deeper understanding of the intricacies of the Alaskan temperate rainforest.