This morning we woke up to find a pair of adult male orca, slowly cruising in close proximity to the shoreline. We were approaching Pond Island, our morning's destination, and two large dorsal fins. As they slowly emerged, they broke the shiny and smooth surface of the water, to be lost back into the mystery of the depths.
We arrived to Pond Island. We deployed our kayaks, put on our rubber boots and embarked our expedition boats to explore. Hikers took off into the heart of the forest, and kayakers placidly paddled along in the peace of the morning.
Our morning explorations by boat took us to some of the hidden corners around Pond Island. Here we encountered a humpback whale building its own bubble net and catching small fish, not too far from us. As we continued to examine the shoreline in search for interesting things, we spotted an elusive mink, which sat on a rock for just enough time for all of us to see it, before it disappeared back into the woods. On the grassy shoreline we found a Sitka black-tail deer. Amazingly enough, we could get quite close to it and observe it for a good amount of time.
After the hikers and kayakers came back with exciting stories about their morning, we lifted the anchor and got underway. We sailed for the rest of the day towards the southeast side of Baranof Island. We went into some of the most beautiful bays imaginable. The National Geographic Sea Lion went into the scenic Red Bluff Bay and then into the more narrow and equally spectacular Gut Bay.
