The guests aboard National Geographic Sea Bird sleepily crawled to bed in Canada on the night of May 9th, 2015. The next morning, May 10, we awoke in Alaska, in American waters. Captain Andrew Cook led the ship towards Misty Fjords, a beautiful set of glacier-carved fjord cliffs just north of the Canadian-American border. The inlet undulates between narrow passageways and wide channels, all banked by thick forests of Sitka spruce and Western hemlock. Our officials arrived gracefully by float plane, setting down on the calm water to welcome us back to the U.S.
A morning cruise through surrounding waters offered fantastic views of Dall’s porpoises and harbor seals as the ship navigated around New Eddystone Rock, a volcanic core which sits at the bottom of the channel. Late morning the ship arrived to her anchorage and with the afternoon began kayak and expedition landing craft operations.
The calm, dark waters of the bay provided peace unparalleled. Kayakers calmly paddled towards the shoreline where numerous bubbling waterfalls fell to the saltwater’s surface. Broken logs and fallen branches lay partially submerged, showing off the halocline at the water’s edge. A slight mist, true to Misty Fjord’s name, gave the traveler’s a true feel of Alaska. Expedition landing craft cruisers went another direction, exploring the mouth of the river at the edge of the bay and admiring stunning geology.
In the late afternoon the dive team went out to more thoroughly explore Owl Pass. The super steep walls and incredibly calm water houses animals most people have never seen. Ancient crinoids, an ancestor of the modern sea star, sat at about 40 feet underwater, continuing down into the darkness of the plummeting channel. Tunicates and nudibranchs work with the Crinoid to create an underwater invertebrate haven. Deep down a few shy fish hide in rock cubbies and crevices, relying on their wall’s camouflage to save them from potential predators.
In the late afternoon the ship lifted anchor to head onto Petersberg, moving further north into greater Alaska adventures. With cocktails in hand and Recap on the way, the guests aboard Sea Bird left the adventurous and peaceful cove of Misty Fjords onto tomorrow’s explorations.
