The National Geographic Venture passed through the narrow waterway of the Sergius Narrows early this morning before many were out of bed. But just on the far side, a family of bears was enjoying their breakfast just as guests were starting to enjoy theirs. We enjoyed watching a mom and two young cubs rolling over rocks on the shore, looking for tasty treats of barnacles and mussels, whilst the smell of bacon and coffee wafted from our own dining room. There was still some technical maneuvering between us and our destination, which the Captain and Crew navigated expertly to bring us to an anchorage nestled in amongst the Magoun Islands.
After lunch we were ready for an afternoon full of activities, with water activities including kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding and Zodiac tours of the tidal fluctuations among the Magoun Islands. Guests wanting to stretch their legs ventured into the old growth forest for a bushwhacking adventure following bear and deer trails into the undergrowth. Highlights for the bushwhackers included the leafless, parasitic, perennial orchid, Pacific coralroot. Coralroot are mycoheterotrophs that receive their nutrition from fungi, which in turn receive mineral nutrients and carbon symbiotically from trees. The trees also support a fungus commonly known as bear bread.
