Red Bluff Bay and Chatham Strait
In the early morning we cruised silently into Red Bluff Bay on Admiralty Island. It is a long, narrow inlet, where spruce trees cling to steep rock walls. The name ‘red bluff’ refers to the bare, rounded rock hillsides at the bay’s mouth. Chromium and other metals in that reddish rock bluff make the rock toxic to nearly all plants except for sphagnum moss.
We quietly entered this magical bay. A waterfall tumbled hundreds of feet down a steep, spruce-covered hillside. The captain nudged the ship’s bow so close to the waterfall that we were dampened by mist. At the head of the bay was a meadow, and we scanned it for wildlife; three brown bears foraged in it, while a couple of Sitka black tailed deer walked at the forest edge.
We spent the rest of the morning exploring the inlet by kayak and Zodiac. We cruised within inches of the bay’s walls, under spruce branches, and beside barnacle-covered rocks. It was a perfect opportunity to soak in visual details, or listen for birds.
As soon as we left the bay, we saw a humpback whale that appeared to be feeding on prey a couple of hundred feet below the surface. We continued down Chatham Strait, past the dramatic, snow-capped peaks of Baranof Island.
By late afternoon the water’s surface was glass-like. Just inside Frederick Sound a solitary humpback whale made several dives. Less than a mile away were two other humpbacks – a mother and calf. As the mother dove, her tail flukes lifted gracefully out of the water . . . while the tail of her slightly clumsy young calf barely broke the surface. One time they surfaced very close to the ship. After swimming alongside the ship for a couple of minutes, both mother and calf gracefully raised their tail flukes in front of the bow before slipping under the surface for a dive. Pure beauty and grace!
In the early morning we cruised silently into Red Bluff Bay on Admiralty Island. It is a long, narrow inlet, where spruce trees cling to steep rock walls. The name ‘red bluff’ refers to the bare, rounded rock hillsides at the bay’s mouth. Chromium and other metals in that reddish rock bluff make the rock toxic to nearly all plants except for sphagnum moss.
We quietly entered this magical bay. A waterfall tumbled hundreds of feet down a steep, spruce-covered hillside. The captain nudged the ship’s bow so close to the waterfall that we were dampened by mist. At the head of the bay was a meadow, and we scanned it for wildlife; three brown bears foraged in it, while a couple of Sitka black tailed deer walked at the forest edge.
We spent the rest of the morning exploring the inlet by kayak and Zodiac. We cruised within inches of the bay’s walls, under spruce branches, and beside barnacle-covered rocks. It was a perfect opportunity to soak in visual details, or listen for birds.
As soon as we left the bay, we saw a humpback whale that appeared to be feeding on prey a couple of hundred feet below the surface. We continued down Chatham Strait, past the dramatic, snow-capped peaks of Baranof Island.
By late afternoon the water’s surface was glass-like. Just inside Frederick Sound a solitary humpback whale made several dives. Less than a mile away were two other humpbacks – a mother and calf. As the mother dove, her tail flukes lifted gracefully out of the water . . . while the tail of her slightly clumsy young calf barely broke the surface. One time they surfaced very close to the ship. After swimming alongside the ship for a couple of minutes, both mother and calf gracefully raised their tail flukes in front of the bow before slipping under the surface for a dive. Pure beauty and grace!
