Misty Fjords National Monument
In our progress from the Ice Age to modern day, we put the ice behind us and found ourselves by early morning navigating toward Misty Fjords National Monument, a glacially carved fjord, no longer bedecked with glaciers but marked everywhere with their trails.
After breakfast, Iliana Ortega made a beautifully illustrated presentation on whales, and then Rikki Swenson showed us how to use photoshop to our best advantage, giving life to exposure and compositionally-challenged photos before our eyes.
Late in the morning, we entered Misty Fjords and gathered out on deck. It’s like sailing into Yosemite to gaze up at the steep granite walls rising from the sea. Dark gray and streaked with bold glacial striations, they rose enormously above us. And, since the day was perfectly calm and rainless, the walls cast equally monumental reflections on the water.
After a morning’s cruise and a brief glimpse at a black bear foraging at a salmon stream, we anchored just after lunch, and the Zodiacs and kayaks were deployed. Our playground was a many-fingered fjord’s end with salmon streams and meadows and forest dripping from the metamorphic rock walls.
On cue a brown bear emerged from the trees just as we emerged from the ship. It retreated quickly into the forest but just as the Zodiacs neared its shore, the bear emerged, grabbed a salmon and retreated again into the forest. We lingered a moment, hoping and hearing twigs snap, but eventually the perfectly calm waters and richly decorated enclosing walls drew us out and along the fjord.
We cruised to sounds of lush waterfalls and a gently lapping sea. Rich cedar-infused forest fragrance filled the cool air. Gulls floated reflections on the water, and eagle sentries sat poised near salmon streams. Just as it was time to return to the ship, the brown bear made another appearance. Right in front of the Zodiacs it caught a fish and retreated, completing the day with a photogenic exclamation point.
Or so we thought. We finished dinner and enjoyed the world premier of Yves Garceau’s video chronicle of our trip. And, as we prepared to finish our day, northern lights were just beginning to glow. Under the darkness of the back deck, aurora borealis undulated over us lulling us finally into sweet dreams.
In our progress from the Ice Age to modern day, we put the ice behind us and found ourselves by early morning navigating toward Misty Fjords National Monument, a glacially carved fjord, no longer bedecked with glaciers but marked everywhere with their trails.
After breakfast, Iliana Ortega made a beautifully illustrated presentation on whales, and then Rikki Swenson showed us how to use photoshop to our best advantage, giving life to exposure and compositionally-challenged photos before our eyes.
Late in the morning, we entered Misty Fjords and gathered out on deck. It’s like sailing into Yosemite to gaze up at the steep granite walls rising from the sea. Dark gray and streaked with bold glacial striations, they rose enormously above us. And, since the day was perfectly calm and rainless, the walls cast equally monumental reflections on the water.
After a morning’s cruise and a brief glimpse at a black bear foraging at a salmon stream, we anchored just after lunch, and the Zodiacs and kayaks were deployed. Our playground was a many-fingered fjord’s end with salmon streams and meadows and forest dripping from the metamorphic rock walls.
On cue a brown bear emerged from the trees just as we emerged from the ship. It retreated quickly into the forest but just as the Zodiacs neared its shore, the bear emerged, grabbed a salmon and retreated again into the forest. We lingered a moment, hoping and hearing twigs snap, but eventually the perfectly calm waters and richly decorated enclosing walls drew us out and along the fjord.
We cruised to sounds of lush waterfalls and a gently lapping sea. Rich cedar-infused forest fragrance filled the cool air. Gulls floated reflections on the water, and eagle sentries sat poised near salmon streams. Just as it was time to return to the ship, the brown bear made another appearance. Right in front of the Zodiacs it caught a fish and retreated, completing the day with a photogenic exclamation point.
Or so we thought. We finished dinner and enjoyed the world premier of Yves Garceau’s video chronicle of our trip. And, as we prepared to finish our day, northern lights were just beginning to glow. Under the darkness of the back deck, aurora borealis undulated over us lulling us finally into sweet dreams.