Misty Fjords
We started our morning traversing fjords both narrow and wide as we made our way around Revillagegado Island, in Misty Fjords National Monument. This wilderness area is enormous in every sense of the word. It is 3,500 square miles in area, carved by massive glaciers into granitic domes and steep-sided valleys, like a Yosemite made large. Waterfalls cascade from high ridges, salmon spawn in broad rivers. We had mist, in the morning, draping itself over treetops, curling along beaches, sometimes shining in the morning sun. As we sailed down Behm Canal, it disappeared in front of us, and we had sunshine to play in the rest of the day. Not bad, for a place that gets about fourteen feet of rain per year.
In Rudyerd Bay we loaded the zodiacs, we hopped in the kayaks, and off we went. Ahead of the ship this time, through a narrow passage to the deep back bay. We had a great perspective for the Owl Cliffs, where exfoliated slabs of rock have peeled off to reveal a face that looks like an owl. Gathered on the far side of this narrow spot, we watched the ship come through, in the sun, colorfully dressed guests on the bow, steep forest and cliff soaring behind….I believe a few pictures were made.
Then it was time to explore some more. Zodiac riders had adventures in streams where chum salmon are spawning, some even getting a glimpse of our favorite attendant wildlife, bears, and enjoying a slow quiet drift past hauled-out seals. Kayakers and zodiac cruisers alike got up-close to steep hillsides, marveling at the trees that grow in seemingly impossible places, the valiant ferns and saxifrages growing from the tiniest of cracks in the rock, waterfalls that drop 1500 feet in braided steps.
Back on the ship, we had more carved cliffs to visit, a curved vertical face 3000 feet tall, more greens in every shade to see. I knew the mood was celebratory when I heard someone on the bow compare the rock to various types of wine. And later, voices joined in song about Eddystone Rock made a fitting end to a not-so-misty Misty Fjords day.
