Bay of Pillars & Chatham Strait
Chatham Strait, named in 1794 by Capt. George Vancouver for the Earl of Chatham, is in fact one of the world’s longest fiords – from the ocean to Lynn Canal near Skagway, Alaska. Just off the Strait on Kuiu Island (a Tlingit moniker but called “Kuyu” by 19th century Russian explorers) guests roamed clear waters of the Bay aboard Zodiacs. Guests piloted through narrow channels against a fierce, exciting tide, eventually reaching the calm of an inland stretch of what is called Bay of Pillars. Along the way Zodiacs dodged uncharted rocks, bull or ribbon kelp beds, and slowed to observe bobbing colonies of sea otter, a soaring bald eagle, black bear grazing on the beaches, jellyfish, and a lonely mink.
Returning to the Sea Bird at ebb tide, Zodiacs paused in the narrow island passageways to bump against one of nature’s wonders – a shear wall of exposed marine life waiting for the sea water to cover their hideouts. Close examination of these perpendicular colonies revealed blue mussels, sea anemones, Blood and Sunflower sea stars, globular-shaped Sea Cauliflower, good old barnacles and a range of seaweeds.
The Sea Bird was heading north, but in the afternoon it took a turn into Red Bluff Bay on the east coast of Baranof Island to showcase a parade of waterfalls and cascades. These white, wild spouts roared down gray granite walls. Some were free-falling, others spread into a lace-like pattern against rock surfaces. Rare, rocky beaches between the falls revealed their own secrets – brown bear, a few deer, eagles, a river otter.
Aboard ship in the afternoon a Naturalist reviewed samples of animal and plant life indigenous to these islands. Later, during recap, more details were provided about local species, including the Historian’s comments about an earlier keen-eyed visitor, “glacialologist” John Muir.
