Le Conte Bay & Petersburg
Southeast Alaska’s sun shone down on us (again) this morning. We put on sunglasses and enjoyed it, but I’m beginning to wonder - is the forest around us really rainforest?
This morning, National Geographic Sea Bird anchored well outside the entrance to Le Conte Bay, where icebergs and bergy bits from Le Conte Glacier spilled out the fjord’s mouth. We cruised amongst them in the Zodiacs, and enjoyed close views of the floating, natural ice sculptures. Some were white, others were light blue and some were clear, like fine crystal. As we admired them, suddenly, the largest and bluest of the icebergs just cracked, fell apart and rolled!
We cruised north to the town of Petersburg, a town founded by a Norwegian in the late 1890s. He chose the site for its proximity to good halibut fishing grounds, and easy access to ice from Le Conte Glacier. Fish was packed in ice, shipped to Seattle then to other markets. Petersburg remains a major fishing port today. Trollers, longliners, purse seiners, gillnetters and crabbers line the many docks, awaiting upcoming openings for the various fisheries.
We spent the afternoon exploring the town of Petersburg by foot or bicycle, strolling the docks learning about fishing boats, or walking in forest and on boardwalks through muskeg (bog). The scent of the bright yellow skunk cabbage now permeates the forest, while tiny flowers of many other plants are just beginning to appear. At the edges of shallow bog pools we found the tiny, insectivorous sundew plants. Some of us went flightseeing, and had aerial views of nearby glaciers.
This evening we heard from two special guests about their organizations’ efforts to study and preserve local wildlife. A Petersburg native named Erik Lee spoke to us about the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. Following our delicious Dungeness crab and rib feast, Fred Sharpe described The Alaska Whale Foundation’s humpback whale research. He has focused many of his studies on their unusual, cooperative bubble-net feeding techniques.
Southeast Alaska’s sun shone down on us (again) this morning. We put on sunglasses and enjoyed it, but I’m beginning to wonder - is the forest around us really rainforest?
This morning, National Geographic Sea Bird anchored well outside the entrance to Le Conte Bay, where icebergs and bergy bits from Le Conte Glacier spilled out the fjord’s mouth. We cruised amongst them in the Zodiacs, and enjoyed close views of the floating, natural ice sculptures. Some were white, others were light blue and some were clear, like fine crystal. As we admired them, suddenly, the largest and bluest of the icebergs just cracked, fell apart and rolled!
We cruised north to the town of Petersburg, a town founded by a Norwegian in the late 1890s. He chose the site for its proximity to good halibut fishing grounds, and easy access to ice from Le Conte Glacier. Fish was packed in ice, shipped to Seattle then to other markets. Petersburg remains a major fishing port today. Trollers, longliners, purse seiners, gillnetters and crabbers line the many docks, awaiting upcoming openings for the various fisheries.
We spent the afternoon exploring the town of Petersburg by foot or bicycle, strolling the docks learning about fishing boats, or walking in forest and on boardwalks through muskeg (bog). The scent of the bright yellow skunk cabbage now permeates the forest, while tiny flowers of many other plants are just beginning to appear. At the edges of shallow bog pools we found the tiny, insectivorous sundew plants. Some of us went flightseeing, and had aerial views of nearby glaciers.
This evening we heard from two special guests about their organizations’ efforts to study and preserve local wildlife. A Petersburg native named Erik Lee spoke to us about the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. Following our delicious Dungeness crab and rib feast, Fred Sharpe described The Alaska Whale Foundation’s humpback whale research. He has focused many of his studies on their unusual, cooperative bubble-net feeding techniques.
