Gut Bay and Sitkoh Bay
It is wonderful to wake up in a spectacularly beautiful spot in Southeast Alaska, and it is a bonus to need your sunglasses! The sun rose at 4:00 a.m. this morning, while most of us were still sleeping on National Geographic Sea Lion. The sky above Gut Bay was cloudless and everywhere we looked the view was breathtaking. Snow capped mountains, waterfalls, and immense granite walls lined this narrow passage.
After breakfast we heard the call, “humpback whales!” This area of Frederick Sound is very nutrient rich and the animals were feeding. The whales were throwing their tail flukes as they dove and we learned that the beautiful patterns on their flukes are used to identify the individual animals. It is estimated that about 6,000 humpback whales are found here in southeast Alaska.
So what happens onboard when we are not looking at wildlife and beautiful scenery?
Well, I am in my warm spa giving massages. Our naturalists give presentations on such things as marine mammals of Southeast Alaska and then we are fortunate to partake in delicious meals prepared by our talented galley.
After lunch we began our afternoon activities at Sitkoh Bay located on the south side of Chichagof Island. It felt like a mid summer day and many of us peeled off a layer or two. We set off on hikes into the forest and soon spotted a healthy brown bear feeding on sedges. Returning to the beach red and yellow kayaks awaited us. Some chose to explore via kayaks and others went on Zodiac tours.
Back on the ship we had our evening “recap”, discussing the exciting events of our day.
