Misty Fiords National Monument, Alaska
Granite mountain domes of Punchbowl Cove towered over us this morning during breakfast. What a heavenly place. Smooth palisades of rock dominate the gorgeous, natural landscape of this cozy, breathtaking cul-de-sac in Misty Fiords National Monument. During breakfast, we had visitors in this paradise: a small floatplane landed with two friendly immigrations officials to clear us into the USA.
After breakfast, we continued up the narrow fiord, and we turned left when it appeared to end . . . the ship traveled a bit further, then we got into smaller watercraft to explore even more. We took Zodiac cruises into the narrowest part of the inlet, and kayakers explored on their own. It was pure magic: hemlock needles floated on the cold, green water surface, along with pink petals of salmonberry flowers. I imagined them being left behind from a fairy tale, mossy, spring union of two bald eagles. Small schools of pin-sized salmon fry schooled alongside the massive granite walls. They’d recently emerged from stream gravel where they’d been safe all winter long. Barnacles had shed their outer skeletons (old winter coats?), and their translucent castaway coverings were drifting in the water, next to living, feeding, hungry barnacles.
On the beautiful earth canvases, rock walls, there were watercolor patterns, so smooth and perfect, made from algae, right down to the water’s edge. I heard a gorgeous song – a winter wren - his song dribbled down through the narrow band of forest. The song is so long, the forest hardly seems large enough to hold all of the notes.
We kayaked up into the end of Rudyerd Bay, and did Zodiac and photography cruises, then floated out. Upon leaving, we found the ‘rooster tail’ splashes of Dall’s porpoises, as small numbers of them broke the surface of the water, and occasionally rode the ship’s stern wake. We continued to see porpoises as we passed the two, dramatic, columnar basalt towers of New Eddystone Rock. A pair of bald eagles sat atop one of the stone towers. Shortly before dinner, we passed by Ketchikan, Alaska, one of the wettest ports in the state. Lucky for us, it was not wet this evening.
