Pond Island/Sergius Narrows
“The tide waits for no man,” shouted our Bo’ sun Kendra early this morning as we approached Pond Island in Kelp Bay, on the northeast coast of Baranof Island. We commenced our kayak and hiking operations from the beach at an absolute low tide of 4.2 feet! More beach was exposed in this low tidal series than on any previous trip I have made this summer. Here in Alaska we have semi-diurnal tides, meaning that we get two low and two high tides each and every day. When the moon and sun are in alignment, as happened yesterday during the full moon, the tidal range is at its greatest vertical difference. With a +15.7 foot high tide to follow our incredible low, today’s vertical tide range here at Pond Island was almost 20 feet!
Such a low tide, of course, exposed all sorts of wonderful invertebrates, all of whom must make their living in these incredibly difficult tidal cycles. Perhaps the most beautiful and colorful animal to be exposed was the sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides). Here in southeast Alaska this is our largest and fastest moving sea star. When it really gets going it can cover up to six feet in a single minute! Growing to almost three feet, its rays break easily and then regenerate. It is so aggressive that even the lethargic red sea cucumber will gallop away when the sunflower star approaches. Thankfully these hyperactive stars don’t have a taste for us humans!
Our younger guests were then treated to their final Zodiac driving session with our expedition leader, Jason Kelley. Good times were had by all, and there was no loss to kids, staff, or even the Zodiac itself. These military specification inflatable boats can REALLY take a beating!
Our cruise through Sergius Narrows brought two entirely unexpected wildlife sightings. Our first sighting was the very rare pink flamingo (Flamincus plasticus) in a strand of Sitka spruce trees. Someone living here in Alaska with a particularly wry sense of humor has purchased plastic pink lawn flamingos and “planted” them in spruce trees along the banks of the narrows. Of course our naturalist staff cannot help but perpetuate the joke and hype the rare and unusual sightings! Our second sighting was of a perfect wooden Orca. The exceptionally high tidal range had trapped a tree in the rip, and as it rose and fell the one exposed branch looked exactly like the rising and falling of an Orca dorsal fin. It seems like the incredibly high tidal range had the last laugh today for those of us aboard the M/V Sea Bird!
“The tide waits for no man,” shouted our Bo’ sun Kendra early this morning as we approached Pond Island in Kelp Bay, on the northeast coast of Baranof Island. We commenced our kayak and hiking operations from the beach at an absolute low tide of 4.2 feet! More beach was exposed in this low tidal series than on any previous trip I have made this summer. Here in Alaska we have semi-diurnal tides, meaning that we get two low and two high tides each and every day. When the moon and sun are in alignment, as happened yesterday during the full moon, the tidal range is at its greatest vertical difference. With a +15.7 foot high tide to follow our incredible low, today’s vertical tide range here at Pond Island was almost 20 feet!
Such a low tide, of course, exposed all sorts of wonderful invertebrates, all of whom must make their living in these incredibly difficult tidal cycles. Perhaps the most beautiful and colorful animal to be exposed was the sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides). Here in southeast Alaska this is our largest and fastest moving sea star. When it really gets going it can cover up to six feet in a single minute! Growing to almost three feet, its rays break easily and then regenerate. It is so aggressive that even the lethargic red sea cucumber will gallop away when the sunflower star approaches. Thankfully these hyperactive stars don’t have a taste for us humans!
Our younger guests were then treated to their final Zodiac driving session with our expedition leader, Jason Kelley. Good times were had by all, and there was no loss to kids, staff, or even the Zodiac itself. These military specification inflatable boats can REALLY take a beating!
Our cruise through Sergius Narrows brought two entirely unexpected wildlife sightings. Our first sighting was the very rare pink flamingo (Flamincus plasticus) in a strand of Sitka spruce trees. Someone living here in Alaska with a particularly wry sense of humor has purchased plastic pink lawn flamingos and “planted” them in spruce trees along the banks of the narrows. Of course our naturalist staff cannot help but perpetuate the joke and hype the rare and unusual sightings! Our second sighting was of a perfect wooden Orca. The exceptionally high tidal range had trapped a tree in the rip, and as it rose and fell the one exposed branch looked exactly like the rising and falling of an Orca dorsal fin. It seems like the incredibly high tidal range had the last laugh today for those of us aboard the M/V Sea Bird!
