Red Bluff Bay and Lake Eva
The ship glided through the quiet waters of Red Bluff Bay then nosed into a magnificent waterfall tumbling down the steep walls blanketed with dense spruces and hemlocks. A lone bear wandered in the distant meadow, and diminutive Sitka black-tailed deer grazed in the lush greenery. We retraced our route past red-throated loons, harlequin ducks, and Barrow’s goldeneyes then exited the bay through the narrowest of openings into Chatham Strait, a good place to search for marine mammals.
Our first sighting was of flashy black and white Dall’s porpoises, but the initial excitement over these dazzling creatures was overshadowed by the appearance of two humpback whales that spouted nearby. Steller sea lions lay hauled out on Yasha Island, and three jostled for positions on a navigational marker that was barely big enough to hold them. The entire buoy listed to one side as an immense male regained his resting spot on one side.
By early afternoon we lay at anchor in Hanus Bay in preparation for kayaking and hikes ashore on the Lake Eva trail on Baranof Island. We followed a narrow path that worked its way through the forest then skirted the shore beneath the towering trees in the photo. Purple shooting stars and shiny yellow buttercups splashed color along the meadow margins, while eagles circled above treetops that seemed to reach for the clouds. Should you look up or down? Alaska has so much to offer, it’s hard to know where to focus.
The ship glided through the quiet waters of Red Bluff Bay then nosed into a magnificent waterfall tumbling down the steep walls blanketed with dense spruces and hemlocks. A lone bear wandered in the distant meadow, and diminutive Sitka black-tailed deer grazed in the lush greenery. We retraced our route past red-throated loons, harlequin ducks, and Barrow’s goldeneyes then exited the bay through the narrowest of openings into Chatham Strait, a good place to search for marine mammals.
Our first sighting was of flashy black and white Dall’s porpoises, but the initial excitement over these dazzling creatures was overshadowed by the appearance of two humpback whales that spouted nearby. Steller sea lions lay hauled out on Yasha Island, and three jostled for positions on a navigational marker that was barely big enough to hold them. The entire buoy listed to one side as an immense male regained his resting spot on one side.
By early afternoon we lay at anchor in Hanus Bay in preparation for kayaking and hikes ashore on the Lake Eva trail on Baranof Island. We followed a narrow path that worked its way through the forest then skirted the shore beneath the towering trees in the photo. Purple shooting stars and shiny yellow buttercups splashed color along the meadow margins, while eagles circled above treetops that seemed to reach for the clouds. Should you look up or down? Alaska has so much to offer, it’s hard to know where to focus.
