As we cruised into the glassy waters of Port Althorp early this morning, we were met by a lone humpback whale feeding on krill and a few dozen sea otters in a raft. Our morning activities including hiking across the mud flats—on which we saw several signs of brown bear—and kayaking around the bay. During the afternoon, National Geographic Sea Bird traversed a short distance across Icy Strait to the Inian Islands—one of my favorite Southeast Alaska destinations. We explored the area by expedition landing craft and saw several sea otters, sea lions, and eagles feeding on the bounty of food from the sea. Later on, we stopped into Gustavus to pick up our Tlingit cultural interpreter and very special guest, Kim Heacox. A talented musician and a John Muir expert, Kim entertained us with Alaskan stories and acoustic guitar songs. Tomorrow we head into Glacier Bay National Park for our next adventure. Stay tuned.
8/12/2019
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National Geographic Sea Bird
Pavlof Harbor & Chatham Strait
During the morning, we explored the scenic cove of Pavlof’s Harbor on the southeast shore of Freshwater Bay, Chichagof Island, and area known for its healthy salmon stream. We were optimistic that we might still see a bear during our last day exploring Southeast Alaska. We were not disappointed! At the base of a small waterfall, we spotted a coastal brown bear casually gorging itself on salmon as we watched, spellbound, from the safety of our expedition landing crafts only a few yards away. The bear, enjoying its meal, seemed oblivious or at least indifferent to our presence. For nearly an hour, we watched the animal devour fish after fish until it calmly walked up the river bank rocks and into the forest. Late summer and early fall is the time to fatten up and prepare for the long winter ahead. Come November and the onset of snow, brown bears will leave the coastline and head to higher elevations near or above treeline. Biologists debate whether bears truly hibernate or just den up and sleep during the winter. Pregnant sows will give birth to tiny, one-pound cubs while sleeping within the den and nurse them until spring. We returned to the ship after our morning adventures for lunch and were relaxing in the lounge when another bear was spotted on the beach south of Pavlof Harbor. Although more distant than our first encounter, we all enjoyed another exceptional sighting of a coastal brown bear. But the wildlife viewing wasn’t over yet! As we sailed south along Chatham Strait, we encountered a pod of killer whales swimming nearby. Crusing alongside the pod, we counted a group of about ten that included one large male. His large dorsal fin rose nearly six feet above the water‘s surface. Guests spent the remaining time reading or chatting with friends. We wrapped up our day with the captain‘s dinner followed by the guest photo slideshow, which we enjoyed as we sailed toward Sitka through Peril Strait. Have we seen it all? Hardly! But we left with a sense of fulfillment, knowing that we saw a lot! And maybe one day we‘ll return and finally see some elusive moose!
