Idaho Inlet and Inian Islands
We began our morning in Idaho Inlet with another beautiful day unfolding. Harbor seals, sea otters, harbor porpoises, and sea birds broke the glassy surface of the water while a brown bear ambled along the shore. For those of us who chose to kayak, we were rewarded with glimpses into the underwater world of the kelp forest, silence punctuated by the distant blows of humpback whales, and a sense of accomplishment by circumnavigating Shaw Island.
On our morning hike, we traversed the beach to a meadow awakening from its winter sleep with new growth and early blooming flowers. As the longer hikers explored the forest they saw brown bear signs including claw markings on a tree, scat, and well-worn trails. The red squirrels made their presence known by loudly chattering and we spotted them jumping from tree limb to tree limb. The tranquility of the swift water of the salmon stream as it carved through the forest was a highlight for many of us hikers.
Our afternoon activities were around the Inian Islands which are exposed to the power and productivity of the Gulf of Alaska. During our Zodiac explorations, we were fortunate to observe many sea animals including sea otters with their fuzzy newborn pups nestled on their chests in the calm waters of the kelp forests. We rocked and rolled in the waves of the Gulf of Alaska next to groups of tufted puffins while pelagic cormorants flew overhead back to their cliff rookery, their bills filled with nesting material.
While we watched, Steller sea lions flung newly captured fish at the water’s surface where greedy gulls waited for scraps. Our afternoon of great wildlife viewing and an invigorating ride in the Zodiacs was rounded out by a presentation by William Lopez- Forment on the history of Russian Alaska, underwater video footage of a kelp forest taken by Justin Hofman, and a presentation on bald eagles by Patricia Hostiuck, (Smithsonian Leader).
As the sun set on another scenically spectacular day filled with diverse and abundant wildlife, our appreciation for the vast, intact ecosystem of the temperate rainforest and coastal waters of Alaska deepens and we anxiously wait for a new day of exploration to begin.
