With all the glaciers, streams, waterfalls, and rainforest in a wondrous place born of moisture, one hardly expects supreme sunsets in Southeast Alaska. Yet the interplay of light and water tonight created a scintillating swath of glistening orange light on a lavender sea as our burning star fell to the horizon.
The sunset lured the Sea Lion toward it, beckoning us along its glittery path. We were pulled under its spell and never turned off to our planned evening destination in a nearby fjord. Such is the existence of expedition travel. None of the recently crab-fed celebrants out on the bow ever stopped to ask why; following the sun was just the natural course of things.
The evening's natural light show finished in style as the last brilliant edges of the sun flashed green before our eyes. We witnessed the elusive "green flash", an optical marvel not often viewed in these parts.
The balance of light and moisture was impressed upon us in other forms today as well. This morning we cruised in Zodiacs through Rorschach forms of large blue icebergs in Le Conte Bay. Only the short blue wavelengths of visible light had enough energy to escape the dense ice back to our eyes. We pondered the subtle range of hues between white and blue of the glacial fragments as they melted, traveled and rolled in the currents.
Over at the fishing hamlet of Petersburg, originally situated for its proximity to the Le Conte ice source to keep fish fresh, we hiked through enchanted forest to an open rolling bog. The "muskeg" is a saturated sphagnum moss-dominated habitat with its own unique balance of light and moisture. The leached acids of the rainforest have made this environment intolerable to many species - there is an abundant supply of sunlight across the open bog but only a small amount of usable water. Small flowering plants like the white bog orchid and ingenious flora like the insectivorous sundew were in evidence today.
Often coastal Alaska is awash in a dramatic play between light and moisture. Whether expressed in blue ice, orange sunset or green flash -- the changing mix of water and light continually creates breathtaking inspiration.
The sunset lured the Sea Lion toward it, beckoning us along its glittery path. We were pulled under its spell and never turned off to our planned evening destination in a nearby fjord. Such is the existence of expedition travel. None of the recently crab-fed celebrants out on the bow ever stopped to ask why; following the sun was just the natural course of things.
The evening's natural light show finished in style as the last brilliant edges of the sun flashed green before our eyes. We witnessed the elusive "green flash", an optical marvel not often viewed in these parts.
The balance of light and moisture was impressed upon us in other forms today as well. This morning we cruised in Zodiacs through Rorschach forms of large blue icebergs in Le Conte Bay. Only the short blue wavelengths of visible light had enough energy to escape the dense ice back to our eyes. We pondered the subtle range of hues between white and blue of the glacial fragments as they melted, traveled and rolled in the currents.
Over at the fishing hamlet of Petersburg, originally situated for its proximity to the Le Conte ice source to keep fish fresh, we hiked through enchanted forest to an open rolling bog. The "muskeg" is a saturated sphagnum moss-dominated habitat with its own unique balance of light and moisture. The leached acids of the rainforest have made this environment intolerable to many species - there is an abundant supply of sunlight across the open bog but only a small amount of usable water. Small flowering plants like the white bog orchid and ingenious flora like the insectivorous sundew were in evidence today.
Often coastal Alaska is awash in a dramatic play between light and moisture. Whether expressed in blue ice, orange sunset or green flash -- the changing mix of water and light continually creates breathtaking inspiration.
