Petersburg and Thomas Bay
So much happened today I found it difficult to choose a photo, hemming and hawing and inviting opinions from the rest of the staff.
The morning started with a visit to the town of Petersburg. Some chose to spend their morning by way of excursions on a wooden boardwalk over what used to be called muskeg, but now is referred to by the term “peatlands.” This is where moisture and anaerobic conditions create a bog-like ecosystem of high acidity and extremely specialized inhabitants. Others chose to go flightseeing by helicopter and floatplane over the glaciers nearby, or perhaps even combine one or the other activity with a Zodiac exploration of the harbor to check out the various types of fishing vessels docked until the next fishing opportunity opened up. I saw evidence that quite a few (guests, not fishing vessels) had slipped into the bookshop as well.
Because of a scheduling conflict, it turned out in the end that the floatplane flightseers wouldn’t be able to fly out in the morning, but we arranged in coordination with the local company to have them picked up and dropped off at our afternoon’s location, Thomas Bay, just across Frederick Sound and a little bit north from Petersburg. It was wonderful! In the photo we finally decided on, you may see two of our guests next to their floatplane after having descending from the skies and skimmed over the placid waters of the bay to finally settle next to the Sea Bird.
While they had been in the air, the rest of us had been walking among the large Sitka spruce and hemlocks of Cascade Creek. Grazing on the ripening blueberries was part of the visit, as was getting damp from the spray mist off the impressive falls as we followed the switchback trail up the hillside to the bridge over the chasm of falling water. Kayakers rounded the island offshore glimpsing harbor seal heads and eyes sliding back under the surface before really being seen.
An incredible Dungeness crab feast was coming to a close when shrieks and gasps and eyes riveted to the windows focused on what turned out to be an incredible finale to the day. Outside and within yards of the ship a humpback whale started with breaches and pectoral slaps. On the plate silver sea at sunset in the drizzle we gathered on the bow and watched as sixty-one tail slaps practically in a row awed us into silence with its power and sound in the silence of dusk in Frederick Sound.
So much happened today I found it difficult to choose a photo, hemming and hawing and inviting opinions from the rest of the staff.
The morning started with a visit to the town of Petersburg. Some chose to spend their morning by way of excursions on a wooden boardwalk over what used to be called muskeg, but now is referred to by the term “peatlands.” This is where moisture and anaerobic conditions create a bog-like ecosystem of high acidity and extremely specialized inhabitants. Others chose to go flightseeing by helicopter and floatplane over the glaciers nearby, or perhaps even combine one or the other activity with a Zodiac exploration of the harbor to check out the various types of fishing vessels docked until the next fishing opportunity opened up. I saw evidence that quite a few (guests, not fishing vessels) had slipped into the bookshop as well.
Because of a scheduling conflict, it turned out in the end that the floatplane flightseers wouldn’t be able to fly out in the morning, but we arranged in coordination with the local company to have them picked up and dropped off at our afternoon’s location, Thomas Bay, just across Frederick Sound and a little bit north from Petersburg. It was wonderful! In the photo we finally decided on, you may see two of our guests next to their floatplane after having descending from the skies and skimmed over the placid waters of the bay to finally settle next to the Sea Bird.
While they had been in the air, the rest of us had been walking among the large Sitka spruce and hemlocks of Cascade Creek. Grazing on the ripening blueberries was part of the visit, as was getting damp from the spray mist off the impressive falls as we followed the switchback trail up the hillside to the bridge over the chasm of falling water. Kayakers rounded the island offshore glimpsing harbor seal heads and eyes sliding back under the surface before really being seen.
An incredible Dungeness crab feast was coming to a close when shrieks and gasps and eyes riveted to the windows focused on what turned out to be an incredible finale to the day. Outside and within yards of the ship a humpback whale started with breaches and pectoral slaps. On the plate silver sea at sunset in the drizzle we gathered on the bow and watched as sixty-one tail slaps practically in a row awed us into silence with its power and sound in the silence of dusk in Frederick Sound.
