LeConte Bay & Petersburg
Our day began at the spectacular bar of LeConte Bay. Filled to the brim with massive icebergs, this morning was a feast for the eyes. Our photographers were treated to a wide variety of colors, shapes, and sculptures, all created by the effects of wind and waves on the bergs. We found that the waters, although murky and full of suspended glacial silt, also played host to a myriad of waterfowl. Harlequin ducks, scoters, marbled murrelets, and various gull species flew overhead as our Zodiac drivers navigated through the ice. A few of our “eagle-eyes” even found a mother Sitka black-tailed deer with twin fawns and a mink that was hunting in the intertidal zone.
We sailed north into Frederick Sound, and just after lunch we arrived in the community of Petersburg. A charming town with a culture based on commercial fishing and Norwegian heritage, Petersburg offers the best that Southeast Alaska has to offer. We entered the community via Wrangell Narrows and made our way into the heart of the small boat harbor. Once ashore, our ship contingent ventured out to explore Petersburg in many different ways. Some chose to visit the nearby LeConte and Patterson Glaciers via floatplane and helicopter, while others made use of the bicycles provided at the dock. The weather held and we all had a taste of quaint “Little Norway”.
In the late afternoon and evening, our hikers rode across Wrangell Narrows to Kupreanof Island. We broke out into different walks and explored the muskeg and temperate rainforest of Petersburg Creek Trail. Clasping twisted stalk, false azalea, fern-leaf gold thread, bunchberry, sundews, and reindeer lichen were a few of the floral treasures that lined the trail. Red-breasted sapsuckers and bald eagles kept our hikers entertained by creating a soundtrack for us as we walked through the woods.
Our evening was complete with an introduction to “fine crab dining” by our Hotel Manager, Judie, a veritable feast of Dungeness crab in the dining room, and great dinner conversation with our shipmates.
Our day began at the spectacular bar of LeConte Bay. Filled to the brim with massive icebergs, this morning was a feast for the eyes. Our photographers were treated to a wide variety of colors, shapes, and sculptures, all created by the effects of wind and waves on the bergs. We found that the waters, although murky and full of suspended glacial silt, also played host to a myriad of waterfowl. Harlequin ducks, scoters, marbled murrelets, and various gull species flew overhead as our Zodiac drivers navigated through the ice. A few of our “eagle-eyes” even found a mother Sitka black-tailed deer with twin fawns and a mink that was hunting in the intertidal zone.
We sailed north into Frederick Sound, and just after lunch we arrived in the community of Petersburg. A charming town with a culture based on commercial fishing and Norwegian heritage, Petersburg offers the best that Southeast Alaska has to offer. We entered the community via Wrangell Narrows and made our way into the heart of the small boat harbor. Once ashore, our ship contingent ventured out to explore Petersburg in many different ways. Some chose to visit the nearby LeConte and Patterson Glaciers via floatplane and helicopter, while others made use of the bicycles provided at the dock. The weather held and we all had a taste of quaint “Little Norway”.
In the late afternoon and evening, our hikers rode across Wrangell Narrows to Kupreanof Island. We broke out into different walks and explored the muskeg and temperate rainforest of Petersburg Creek Trail. Clasping twisted stalk, false azalea, fern-leaf gold thread, bunchberry, sundews, and reindeer lichen were a few of the floral treasures that lined the trail. Red-breasted sapsuckers and bald eagles kept our hikers entertained by creating a soundtrack for us as we walked through the woods.
Our evening was complete with an introduction to “fine crab dining” by our Hotel Manager, Judie, a veritable feast of Dungeness crab in the dining room, and great dinner conversation with our shipmates.
