Sitkoh Bay & Saook Bay
Early morning brought us to the entrance of Sitkoh Bay, the site of our morning activities. As we cruised toward the head of the bay, suddenly several Brown bears were spotted along the shore, well ahead of the ship. As everyone on deck struggled to get a better look at these tiny objects in the distance, another bear was seen much closer and on the other side of the bay. The captain slowed the ship and got us in for a closer look at this beautiful animal. Soon the bears disappeared into the alders and the breakfast call beckoned us to the dining room.
After breakfast we loaded into the zodiacs and headed for shore in Florence Bay to start our morning activities, hiking and kayaking. It was starting to rain, but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the participants. The hikers did long and medium hikes that explored along an old logging road, where we saw Banana slugs going about their business eating leaf-litter and bear droppings, along with views of Sitka deer and River otters.
The kayakers encountered some wind and waves, but toughed it out and enjoyed their last outing of the trip. Zodiac cruises were also offered for those who weren’t up for hiking and kayaking.
Soon it was time to head back to the ship for our lunch and repositioning for the afternoon activities. Our first choice for landing sites didn’t work out because of the strong winds, so we continued on further up Peril Strait to Saook Bay and a more protected area to get ashore. The rain, unfortunately, did not slow down and actually increased in intensity, but the hikers were not going to let that slow them down, and several longer hikes and a medium hike left to explore this new landing site that none of us had been to before.
A fun time was had as we slid over and under logs and crossed a number of streams on our final adventure of the trip. A good way to end a great trip! Sadly, we had to head toward Sitka and prepare for leaving the National Geographic Sea Lion and Southeast Alaska the following morning.
