Wake up announcements were heard as we entered Security Bay Marine Park on Kuiu Island. Our morning activities included short, moderate, photo-guided, and long bushwhack hike options. I was privileged to lead the last. We climbed through huckleberry and false azaleas, still dripping from the last rain. We scrambled over once magnificent trees now morphed into nurse logs covered with mosses and the next generation of spruce and hemlock. We hiked to the muskeg, open and airy, full of color and ripe cloud berries. We then hiked along beaches and salt meadows to our pickup.
To our great delight, we shared the afternoon with humpbacks and orcas. We had a special look at plankton collected in our tow and then projected for easy viewing. These were fabulous views of the very top and the very bottom of the food pyramid.
