Chatham Straight
We spent the first day of our cruise looking at wildlife and getting close to nature near the intersection of Peril Straight and Chatham Straight. We woke up in beautiful Hood Bay in Admiralty Island, where we saw bald eagles, Steller sea lions, huge Lion’s mane jellyfish, and a Sitka deer from our ship.
After breakfast, we stopped to observe the wonderful humpback whales in Chatham Straight. They were coming to the surface with a heart-shaped blow spout several times, and then diving to feed some more. One of the whales came right toward us and submerged right in front of us. Another swam right by the ship. They were close enough to see the blowhole and barnacles that live on them.
This afternoon, we anchored in Hanus Bay to go kayaking and hiking. The kayakers paddled around the bay and saw harbor seals pop their shiny heads up. We also paddled into a small estuary, where we saw a fly fisherman catch some salmon. Some of us were very lucky and saw a brown bear on the far shore. The huge bear was eating grass as it wandered along the shore ignoring us!
The hikers split up into different groups, each of which saw exciting natural phenomena in the temperate rain forest. The strenuous hikers hiked up along a salmon stream to Lake Eva. They walked along the lake shore for an hour, when the wilderness silence was only disturbed by a float plane taking off. The other hikers hiked along the stream to a beautiful wide waterfall, where they stopped to listen to the roar of the falls and to watch salmon jumping up the falls! Most of the hikers were surprised to see a large brown bear wander out of the forest and graze on shoreline grass.
The photograph shows an unusual sight in the southeast Alaska forest. The base of a huge hemlock tree had its bark gnawed off, apparently by a porcupine! Porcupines eat the inner bark of trees during the winter months since there is no other food.
During dinner and throughout the evening, the ship cruises south down Chatham Straight, which is Alaska’s longest, straightest, and deepest fjord. What a perfect day to begin our week aboard the Sea Bird!
We spent the first day of our cruise looking at wildlife and getting close to nature near the intersection of Peril Straight and Chatham Straight. We woke up in beautiful Hood Bay in Admiralty Island, where we saw bald eagles, Steller sea lions, huge Lion’s mane jellyfish, and a Sitka deer from our ship.
After breakfast, we stopped to observe the wonderful humpback whales in Chatham Straight. They were coming to the surface with a heart-shaped blow spout several times, and then diving to feed some more. One of the whales came right toward us and submerged right in front of us. Another swam right by the ship. They were close enough to see the blowhole and barnacles that live on them.
This afternoon, we anchored in Hanus Bay to go kayaking and hiking. The kayakers paddled around the bay and saw harbor seals pop their shiny heads up. We also paddled into a small estuary, where we saw a fly fisherman catch some salmon. Some of us were very lucky and saw a brown bear on the far shore. The huge bear was eating grass as it wandered along the shore ignoring us!
The hikers split up into different groups, each of which saw exciting natural phenomena in the temperate rain forest. The strenuous hikers hiked up along a salmon stream to Lake Eva. They walked along the lake shore for an hour, when the wilderness silence was only disturbed by a float plane taking off. The other hikers hiked along the stream to a beautiful wide waterfall, where they stopped to listen to the roar of the falls and to watch salmon jumping up the falls! Most of the hikers were surprised to see a large brown bear wander out of the forest and graze on shoreline grass.
The photograph shows an unusual sight in the southeast Alaska forest. The base of a huge hemlock tree had its bark gnawed off, apparently by a porcupine! Porcupines eat the inner bark of trees during the winter months since there is no other food.
During dinner and throughout the evening, the ship cruises south down Chatham Straight, which is Alaska’s longest, straightest, and deepest fjord. What a perfect day to begin our week aboard the Sea Bird!
