Kelp Bay and Chatham Strait
One of the numerous indentations and squiggles upon the National Geographic Sea Bird’s charts, we entered Kelp Bay under light gray skies and mirror-calm waters this morning. Amidst the suspicious and wary gaze of sneaky harbor seals, we readied for an excursion to the unknown. Even with the collective experience of both natural history staff and crew, none of us had previously visited this site. We knew not what to expect.
Paddling yellow or red kayaks in a protected cove, we looked up to the steep fjord walls and let ourselves go silent to absorb the call of winter wrens and varied thrushes. It’s on the water, where only our muscles power us in fluid motion through the air / liquid interface, that we have our connection with the ocean. Smelling the forest and feeling twigs break under our boots is our link with land. Following the shore and exploring game trails, we endeavored to search for insight into this wild land. In this forest both life and death abound. Alders were flushing out new leaves as wind-blown spruce and hemlock decay on the forest floor. The sound of bald eagles was countered with a nearly complete and undisturbed bald eagle skeleton, complete with flight feathers. Each an equally useful learning tool.
With our exploration successfully completed, we began our trek northwards seeking our large blubbery brethren. To choose a highlight of the afternoon would be difficult and purely due to personal taste. Witnessing a humpback whale apparently playing with flotsam may appeal to those more whimsical at heart. If algae had a consciousness, it may find itself being airborne via a behemoth’s exhalation a perplexing situation. Maybe even one to write home about.
As though we plan our encounters around meal times, killer whales, and their reputation, arrived for a post-dinner show of grace yet again. Slicing through the cold waters like a claymore, the dorsal fin of a large male killer whale is an impressive and intimidating sight. Because the fin is so easy to spot as it protrudes from these calm waters, we were able to stay with these giant dolphins all the way through a fantastic sunset. Once our digital cameras had been stretched to their light-gathering limits and our eyes were the next cameras to fail, we left these famous creatures for our next day of wild encounters.
