Inian Islands & George’s Island
At anchor just beyond the ship, a grouping of small teddy bear like faces gazed in on us as we ate breakfast in the dining room. The Inian Islands are home to a healthy population of sea otters and their early appearance hastened our morning’s preparations. As soon as possible, we boarded Zodiacs and traveled up the mouth of one of the few entry points from the Pacific Ocean into the Alexander Archipelago.
The water boiled with life. Large kelp floats mistaken for the heads of sea otters, drew us in to explore the mysterious underwater kelp forests. Gazing upon great strands of ribbon-like blades, we could only wonder what lay beneath. Pigeon guillemots took flight just ahead of the Zodiac, their feet a glorious streak of red. Bald eagles soared over-head. Marbled murrelets, golden brown footballs, dove down upon our approach and huge flocks of pelagic cormorants struggled out of the sea, water-drenched and flapping violently.
A highlight of this trip was in circumnavigating a rocky islet on which a large group of male Steller sea lions congregated. They constantly readjusted themselves on the rock, either in an effort to find a more comfortable position or to wrestle with other sea lions. They seemed to be taken up with neck fencing, growling at one another and pushing one another off the rocks and into the water. Others, however, just relaxed on private out-croppings.
Back on the ship and during lunch, a number of killer whales could be seen in every direction. Occasionally, a group of two or three would rush through the water with great speed as if in hot pursuit of prey. At first we thought that the killer whales might be hunting Steller sea lions. However, the sea lions didn’t seem terribly concerned as they themselves continued to splash around in the water. This caused us to believe these killer whales were resident fish eaters and not mammal eaters.
We spent the afternoon hiking and Zodiac cruising around George’s Island. During WWII, about 40 men were stationed here to man a few cannons. In alternating groups, we hiked across to the other side to view a rusted cannon and other remnants of the militia’s presence. The rest of us went on Zodiac cruises around the island. Possibly the same group we saw at lunch, the killer whales reappeared crossing just ahead of us. Their witch’s hat-like dorsal fins rose out of the water multiple times. Finally, to top off our day of amazing wildlife viewing, a humpback whale calf breached up out of the water with great splashes at least 10 times. We estimated it to be only 150 meters away!
At anchor just beyond the ship, a grouping of small teddy bear like faces gazed in on us as we ate breakfast in the dining room. The Inian Islands are home to a healthy population of sea otters and their early appearance hastened our morning’s preparations. As soon as possible, we boarded Zodiacs and traveled up the mouth of one of the few entry points from the Pacific Ocean into the Alexander Archipelago.
The water boiled with life. Large kelp floats mistaken for the heads of sea otters, drew us in to explore the mysterious underwater kelp forests. Gazing upon great strands of ribbon-like blades, we could only wonder what lay beneath. Pigeon guillemots took flight just ahead of the Zodiac, their feet a glorious streak of red. Bald eagles soared over-head. Marbled murrelets, golden brown footballs, dove down upon our approach and huge flocks of pelagic cormorants struggled out of the sea, water-drenched and flapping violently.
A highlight of this trip was in circumnavigating a rocky islet on which a large group of male Steller sea lions congregated. They constantly readjusted themselves on the rock, either in an effort to find a more comfortable position or to wrestle with other sea lions. They seemed to be taken up with neck fencing, growling at one another and pushing one another off the rocks and into the water. Others, however, just relaxed on private out-croppings.
Back on the ship and during lunch, a number of killer whales could be seen in every direction. Occasionally, a group of two or three would rush through the water with great speed as if in hot pursuit of prey. At first we thought that the killer whales might be hunting Steller sea lions. However, the sea lions didn’t seem terribly concerned as they themselves continued to splash around in the water. This caused us to believe these killer whales were resident fish eaters and not mammal eaters.
We spent the afternoon hiking and Zodiac cruising around George’s Island. During WWII, about 40 men were stationed here to man a few cannons. In alternating groups, we hiked across to the other side to view a rusted cannon and other remnants of the militia’s presence. The rest of us went on Zodiac cruises around the island. Possibly the same group we saw at lunch, the killer whales reappeared crossing just ahead of us. Their witch’s hat-like dorsal fins rose out of the water multiple times. Finally, to top off our day of amazing wildlife viewing, a humpback whale calf breached up out of the water with great splashes at least 10 times. We estimated it to be only 150 meters away!
