Daily Expedition Reports
Chatham Strait and Takatz Bay

Ivan Vasquez, Video Chronicler, July 2021

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  • Daily Expedition Reports
  • 04 Jul 2021

Chatham Strait and Takatz Bay

  • Aboard the National Geographic Quest
  • Alaska

This morning found us sailing into Chatham Strait in search of marine life. Numerous humpback whales made an appearance, but Sitka black-tailed deer, a great blue heron, and a brown bear sow and cubs stole the show. As it turned out, these bears were just a precursor for the ones we would see later in the day.

 

Our afternoon destination was Takatz Bay, a dramatic region surrounded by soaring mountains with a salmon stream emptying through the meadow into a tidal flat, where we found more bears. A sow with three cubs came into the meadow, followed by a young male. The young male must have been quite hungry as he proceeded to consume meadow grasses for half an hour to our great pleasure. Hikers had the opportunity to walk alongside perennial bear tracks found in the muskeg. My, oh my, what a wonderful first day!

Article by

Daniel Baldwin, Naturalist

An educator at heart, Dan finds great joy in helping others explore and connect with the world around them. He has taught marine sciences in the Florida Keys and on Catalina Island, science and math in international schools in Mexico, Costa Rica, and the South Pacific, and swimming and water safety in Alaska.

Video by

Ivan Vasquez, Video Chronicler

Iván grew up in San Cristobal, Galapagos amongst a family of artists. From an early age he explored different art tools to express his creativity, going from painting to music, and to finally discover a camera which would later lead to his profession. He started a musical band called Arkabuz and recorded two albums with inspiration of Galapagos. The band toured all over the country and received several prestigious awards, including best band in the country for 2008.

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