Today was what expedition cruising is all about—time for exploring, learning and even doing something that no one else has before! In the morning we could choose to spend time exploring the end of Idaho Inlet in various ways. Some people enjoyed the peace of a kayak, others went searching for wildlife in expedition landing crafts, and the most adventurous joined a walk in the pristine wilderness in a place hardly visited. In the afternoon, we went for exciting expedition landing craft cruises in the Inian Islands to learn about eagles and Steller sea lions. Then it was time for a Lindblad Expeditions first: we went ashore at the Hobbit Hole for the inaugural visit to the Inian Islands Institute. The director and co-founder Zack Brown gave us a tour of the property that will be developed into a teaching center for living and learning in the wilderness of Southeast Alaska. What an exciting opportunity to be some of the first guests to hear about this new project and visit a hidden jewel of Southeast Alaska!
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 25 May 2017
Inian Islands, 5/25/2017, National Geographic Sea Bird
- Aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird
- Alaska
Stephanie Martin, Naturalist
Stephanie is a marine mammal scientist who began her career studying finback and humpback whales from a small isolated lighthouse island off the coast of Bar Harbor, Maine. This project—an effort to identify individual whales by matching dorsal fin ...
Read MoreShare Report
Voyage to Alaska, British Columbia and Haida Gwaii
VIEW ITINERARYRelated Reports
5/11/2025
Read
National Geographic Sea Bird
Glacier Bay National Park
We had a phenomenal day at Glacier Bay National Park. The sun was out, as was the wildlife. The bow was the place to be. Please enjoy the dialogue of the day from the bow: Ah, Lovely Sunrise. Dall’s porpoise! Killer whales! Oo, swans! Calving center! Bald eagle on ice. Brown bear, That’s a big one. Bald eagle in nest. I wish someone would find me a marmot. Marmot at 10! Where? Do you see that crack in the rock? To the left you’ll see a tree. Now go below the tree to the round rock. 6 goats plus bonus outcast goat. Low goats on ledge, wedged in nicely. Goats, goats everywhere, and a marmot here or there. Two puffins. Nice beak action. It’s like “I Spy” out here. Low goat at 11. Oh, really low goat. Oh, yea that’s a fella. Goats looking right at us, folks, good goat face. Oh, and whale spots at 1. Oh boy, I’m exhausted. That’s ok, take it one goat at a time. There’s a spout off the point. Classic humpback. Oh, glaucous winged gulls nesting at 2. And otters! Fly by puffins! Porpoising harbor porpoise! Needless to say, we had a good time. Photo by Shannon Malone
5/10/2025
Read
National Geographic Sea Bird
Tracy Arm
As we continued our way north through Alaska, we had a favorite stop of mine in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness. We had a rainy day, which I enjoy because we can see at higher elevations since the rain turns to snow and, in turn, the snow feeds the absorption zone of the Sawyer Glaciers. We went out in the Zodiacs and navigated around the icebergs and bergy bits, even collecting a piece for the ice melt-off challenge. Once underway out of Tracy Arm, we saw some humpback whales. One whale had an entanglement of line on its fluke. The line was causing an obvious cut to the marine mammal. The correct authorities were notified about the condition of the whale and location of the sighting. Hopefully the whale will be assisted soon and the entanglement removed. Several other humpbacks were seen shortly after, luckily no entanglements on these. They were demonstrating surface feeding behavior, with one lunge feeding and the other making bubbles to catch its prey.