A crisp clear morning greets us as we roll from our beds early this morning. It’s six am and insulated mugs of coffee are held tight in ours hands as we scan the shoreline for signs of life. We are at the opening of Red Bluff Bay, a hidden jewel on the Alaskan coast. It is almost as though we are discovering a secret place as the National Geographic Sea Bird motors towards the shore. It looks like we are going to run aground and then, the boat slowly turns toward starboard and ducks into a passage between the mainland and a small island. We are now in Red Bluff Bay. Around us, the towering walls of the bay, covered in spruce and hemlock that reach from the shore almost all the way to the top of the mountains. The top of the hills are bare, red-colored rocks where vegetation cannot grow because of the minerals found there.
Into the bay we travel stopping at probably the most magnificent waterfall of our entire journey. The bow of the ship almost reaches under the waterfall and everyone on deck feels its mist. Suddenly, a hundred yards down the beach, a brown bear is spotted as it made it way into the dense brush. We know he is there, but it is only the movement of the brush that gives his position away as his concealment is complete. A temporary disappointment until another bear is spotted ahead. Moving along a clear meadow, we have wonderful views. This bear eventually moves into the brush, and it is time for us to head indoors for a well-earned breakfast.
Later that morning, we picked up Dr. Andy Szabo, the Director of the Alaska Whale Foundation. Andy gave us gave us a presentation on his groundbreaking work with whales.
It was hard to believe that we still had an entire afternoon ahead of us, but as we pulled into the cove at Lake Eva. Here we walk among old growth forest, which fed both our souls and our imaginations. We hiked along paths lined by dwarf dogwood and foamflower and with the background noise of eagles calling. We reached the beginning of the lake and watched with wonder as hundreds of salmon swam below our perch. We were witnesses to the beginnings of one of the great natural wonders of the world, the annual return of the salmon that is a cornerstone of life in Southeast Alaska.
