Saginaw Bay to Frederick Sound
Our misty morning began with black bears on the beach! As we watched, more and more kept appearing, including two sets of triplet cubs. All in all, at least twelve were seen before breakfast along with a couple of dozen eagles for good measure. After a Zodiac and (very appropriately) a bear briefing, we headed for the beach ourselves do some kayaking and hiking. The high point of the hiking was supposed to be some fabulous Silurian fossils in an ancient tropical reef that had been moved to Alaska by the miraculous process of plate tectonics. However, the biosphere took control of the show, when yet another black bear ambled out of the woods for a seafood snack. The history of an ancient ocean etched in stone couldn’t even compete for attention with a solitary mink that briefly cavorted along the shoreline. Some days it’s tough to be a geologist on the Sea Bird.
After lunch, we went seeking more charismatic mega-fauna in the marine waters of Frederick Sound. And find them we did. The warm-up act was a group of Dall’s Porpoise, who rushed in towards our bow hoping for a ride. Unfortunately we weren’t moving at the time, so they left disappointed. The main event was a troupe of perhaps two dozen humpback whales that gave us a great display of their table manners as they feasted on krill right in front of and alongside our ship.
Even though the biota stole the show today, it is important to realize that in one way or another, each individual part of our world is connected. For example, every atom in the body of a humpback was once part of a rock and eventually all those atoms will again become part of the solid earth. So humpbacks can be considered a very temporary storage vessel for rock material in a lithospheric cycle that is almost incomprehensible in its dimensions of space and time.
Our misty morning began with black bears on the beach! As we watched, more and more kept appearing, including two sets of triplet cubs. All in all, at least twelve were seen before breakfast along with a couple of dozen eagles for good measure. After a Zodiac and (very appropriately) a bear briefing, we headed for the beach ourselves do some kayaking and hiking. The high point of the hiking was supposed to be some fabulous Silurian fossils in an ancient tropical reef that had been moved to Alaska by the miraculous process of plate tectonics. However, the biosphere took control of the show, when yet another black bear ambled out of the woods for a seafood snack. The history of an ancient ocean etched in stone couldn’t even compete for attention with a solitary mink that briefly cavorted along the shoreline. Some days it’s tough to be a geologist on the Sea Bird.
After lunch, we went seeking more charismatic mega-fauna in the marine waters of Frederick Sound. And find them we did. The warm-up act was a group of Dall’s Porpoise, who rushed in towards our bow hoping for a ride. Unfortunately we weren’t moving at the time, so they left disappointed. The main event was a troupe of perhaps two dozen humpback whales that gave us a great display of their table manners as they feasted on krill right in front of and alongside our ship.
Even though the biota stole the show today, it is important to realize that in one way or another, each individual part of our world is connected. For example, every atom in the body of a humpback was once part of a rock and eventually all those atoms will again become part of the solid earth. So humpbacks can be considered a very temporary storage vessel for rock material in a lithospheric cycle that is almost incomprehensible in its dimensions of space and time.
