The final day of our 15 day expedition brought us many surprises and plenty of activity. All of us seasoned Alaskan travelers feel as if we have falsely represented the normally cloudy state, for once again the weather was perfect and not a cloud in the sky. At 0700 people were wearing t-shirts up on the bow. The initial morning plans were slightly delayed when naturalist David Stevens adroitly spotted a small pod of orca off of Morris Reef during breakfast. With a quick radio call to Captain Sinclair, we soon found ourselves clutched out and waited as the pod headed straight towards us. There was only one large male and what appeared to be multiple very young orca hunting beside the matriarchs of the family. The National Geographic Sea Lion was clearly no threat to these magnificent creatures for they remained in close proximity for nearly an hour. At one point four of them drifted along the entire length of the ship within a foot of the hull. All the photographers were torn between focusing on detail shots of the orca or widening their lenses and incorporating the snow covered peaks and their reflections slightly disrupted from the orcas movements.
The entire boat was eager for a walk to the beautiful Lake Eva and we split into multiple groups to head inland. Our walks proved to be quite entertaining with the serenading of pacific wrens throughout the entirety of the trail. Sightings included, loons, red squirrels, slime molds, mergansers, a healthy stream filled with salmon smoldt, a belted king fisher, varied thrushes and enormous patches of skunk cabbage. We even encountered two fly fishermen that arrived via a float plane to test their luck on early season salmon. The most exciting portion of the walk was the obvious evidence of recent brown bear activity indicated by the still warm droppings in the trail and hair on the small footbridge crossing a small creek.
Prior to pulling anchor and enjoying one last wonderful meal together the expedition leader decided that it would be foolish to not take advantage of such extraordinary weather so a “polar plunge” was offered to the brave souls who dare experience the cold Alaskan waters. For those of you who have never seen anyone jump into frigid water, I can assure you that you will never see people move as fast as we all witnessed today. The speed in which people entered the water and found themselves back aboard clenching their towel seemed a near physical impossibility.
