George Island and the Inian Islands
Porpoise do not worry about waking up early. So we had some very interesting views of them before breakfast. The Inian islands are exposed to the open Pacific, and are very interesting, as they are small and have a rock that is used as a rookery by male Steller sea lions. The waters of the area are very rich, and have an enormous seabird population.
George Island is small and was used during WWII as a gun emplacement, which, together with another one on the other side of Cross Sound, guarded the entrance to the Inside Passage against any invading fleet of Japanese ships. But the Japanese invasion through this pass never happened. Today George Island still has the old gun, now rusting away.
We did a series of hikes on the island, along very well-kept paths, up to the gun emplacement, or to the opposite side of the island, where we found an incredible array of small snails at the ocean’s edge, showing us how rich the waters are. We also recognized two species of orchids! We kayaked to our hearts’ content and had Zodiac tours around the island, which has a series of kelp beds where a few sea otters live.
After lunch we had repositioned to the vicinity of the Steller sea lion rookery. With our fleet of Zodiacs we visited the area, enjoying these magnificent animals as they swam with and against the strong currents roaring through the pass, and fished for delicious salmon, which they shook to break in pieces small enough to swallow. Numerous gulls fought over the scraps, on occasion flying off with the complete roe sack!
Besides these adventures watching the animals forage, we took smaller side trips to see if we could find puffins! Some of us did, besides very numerous pelagic cormorants.
Humpback whales were also seen, enjoying the bounty of fish in the area.
