Ideal Cove and Petersburg
National Geographic Sea Bird traveled south all night long across Chatham Strait and through Frederick Sound to reach Ideal Cove in the early morning as we were doing our ritual stretch class, wearing fleece hats and gloves to stay warm. It was another true Southeast Alaskan day with rain and low clouds hanging over the temperate rainforest surrounding us. Ideal Cove is located six miles south of Petersburg on Mitkof Island.
After breakfast most rode in the Zodiacs to reach the shore where we entered into the forest of Sitka spruce and western hemlocks to explore the lakes up the creek. A small group of us set up a steady pace walking along the wood planks, and suddenly came to a halt to admire a rough-skinned newt which was slowly making its way across the planks. We soon reached the bridge where the trail split and chose to walk the whole loop around the lakes. The forest was glistening as the thick vegetation was covered with droplets of rainwater.
As we came up an open meadow, a Sitka black-tailed deer stood in front of us, curious about our group; he soon realized we were not predators and trotted away with his black tail up.
As we were nearing the second lake, we came upon a mother blue grouse with her little chicks. She was very protective of her young ones who were doing their best to hide among the wet grass.
We felt very fortunate to have the opportunity to admire three very different species on our hike, and back on the Zodiac, we headed back home, to National Geographic Sea Bird.
The afternoon was spent in Petersburg, a thriving little fishing community on Mitkof Island. The sound of the eagle's cry is always a wonderful welcome back to this peaceful and yet busy fishing village.
Some of us were shuttled across the Wrangell Narrows to Kupreanof Island, to the trailhead of Petersburg Creek. A short hike over a set of raised wooden planks took us through the forest until we reached a beautiful muskeg or peat bog, where plants have adapted to a very acidic environment.
Others went on a dock walk to admire the fishing vessels and witness the activities of a busy fishing community.
The gentle rain didn't intimidate us to go explore the streets and shops of this beautiful town where you step on concrete molded fish instead of the wood planks we were hiking on in the forest and across the muskeg earlier in the day.
We were delighted to feast on freshly caught Dungeness crabs as we were leaving Petersburg and the eagles behind us. Now we are sailing north on the way to Tracy Arm and more adventures tomorrow.
