I loved this day!
We began today in the early morning hours cruising the calm waters of Idaho Inlet amongst rafts of sea otters. And it was raining, raining hard. This is the way a day should start in a rain forest, isn’t it?! After being with otters, the National Geographic Sea Lion anchored between Shaw Island and Fox Creek, a beautiful stream coming out of the depths of Chichagof Island. Our morning activities included kayaking and/or walks in the rain forest. Because of the heavy rains, the forest was especially rain foresty, lush and green with swollen creeks and clean earthy air. The kayakers were particularly blessed with flat calm water, gorgeous and mystical cloud-scenery and humpback whales in among the paddlers. The sounds of the blows of the whales floated across the water to the ears of the kayakers and the walkers in the rain forest as well. It was truly a magical morning in the rain.
During lunch National Geographic Sea Lion made her way a short distance westward into the Inians, a group of islands that mark the transition from the open Pacific Ocean into the waters of the Inland Passage. The passes between the islands funnel all the tidal water that enters this portion of Southeast Alaska and carry with them an enormous amount of nutrients, which in turn supports an abundance of wildlife: whales, Steller sea lions, bald eagles, sea otters, and the fish they all feed on. We spent the afternoon in our expedition landing craft exploring this incredibly productive, fascinating place, and we were able to see all the species we had hoped for…definitely up close and personal.
Watching humpback whales from water level is a world-class nature experience as is hanging out with Steller sea lions. Most of the Stellers were in the water, just messing about with one another and curious about us, catching fish in the furious tidal currents or hauled out on the shore resting from the toils of sea lion life. One large adult male was obviously recovering from attempts at gaining a territory in a rookery area to the north of the Inians; he had a large wound on his chest and many other battle scars typical of these 2000-pound territorial males. Back aboard ship the talk about the day was loud and excited as we shared stories of our day.
