Le Conte Bay and Petersburg, Southeastern Alaska
A cold, foggy morning greeted us at Le Conte Bay, in the vicinity of Le Conte Glacier, unapproachable because of the fast retreat of the glacier. Occasionally drizzle would make the view mistier. Immediately after breakfast we set out in our Zodiacs, in two waves, to approach these lovely pieces of blue ice. We saw bald eagles perched on large icebergs, as well as other smaller birds like marbled murrelets and gulls flying around. We slowly crossed the terminal moraine and were able to approach enormous icebergs, grounded because of the falling tide. These showed us many different textures and tones of blue, due to melting patterns and the sun, as well as to the impinging light on them.
After this, we set out north and west, to the small fishing town of Petersburg, on Mitkof Island, where we docked among the hundreds of fishing boats: trawlers, seiners and gill netters, as well as some with enormous piles of crab pots on their decks. Many of the names sounded very Nordic, such as "Odin", as the town was founded by a group of Norwegian fishermen. Today it sports a good number of canneries, an airport with two flights of Alaska Airlines daily and the Alaska Ferry (locally referred to as the Banana Boat). As soon as we were tied to the first-class floating dock, we lowered the Zodiacs and, with our guests, set out across the Wrangel Narrows to a floating dock on Kupreanov Island, where we did interesting hikes into the forest, and into a bog with a boardwalk. The vegetation is what caught our eye: a big area with scant trees, completely surrounded by tall Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock, and nearer to the edge of the muskeg, Alaska Yellow Cedar and Lodgepole Pine! These last trees have found a place to live, free of the pressures of the first two taller dominant trees. The smaller vegetation, consisting of wondrous plants, adapted to living in nutrient-poor soggy acid soil, consisted mostly of Sphagnum Moss, with ponds sporting buckbean plants. At the edges, small insect eating plants, the Sundews, of two species! These small plants eat insects that they catch with sticky extensions of their leaves, later to be digested. Bog Orchids, Bog Blueberries and Bog Cranberries were seen interspersed with Deer Cabbage, Bog Laurel and Bog Rosemary. Here we also saw the plant used by White Man some time ago, as a substitute for black tea: Labrador Tea.
Kayaking was in order, so that sport was undertaken as well, many of us enjoying a good time kayaking up a smaller creek in the area. And others yet, enjoyed a walk into town, to see the few shops with nice, local handicrafts and smoked salmon!
As night approached, we left the lovely town of Petersburg, and set our bow to the north and northwest, into the big body of water, Frederick Sound. After supper, while on our way to Scenery Cove in Thomas Bay, we sighted an adult black bear.
A cold, foggy morning greeted us at Le Conte Bay, in the vicinity of Le Conte Glacier, unapproachable because of the fast retreat of the glacier. Occasionally drizzle would make the view mistier. Immediately after breakfast we set out in our Zodiacs, in two waves, to approach these lovely pieces of blue ice. We saw bald eagles perched on large icebergs, as well as other smaller birds like marbled murrelets and gulls flying around. We slowly crossed the terminal moraine and were able to approach enormous icebergs, grounded because of the falling tide. These showed us many different textures and tones of blue, due to melting patterns and the sun, as well as to the impinging light on them.
After this, we set out north and west, to the small fishing town of Petersburg, on Mitkof Island, where we docked among the hundreds of fishing boats: trawlers, seiners and gill netters, as well as some with enormous piles of crab pots on their decks. Many of the names sounded very Nordic, such as "Odin", as the town was founded by a group of Norwegian fishermen. Today it sports a good number of canneries, an airport with two flights of Alaska Airlines daily and the Alaska Ferry (locally referred to as the Banana Boat). As soon as we were tied to the first-class floating dock, we lowered the Zodiacs and, with our guests, set out across the Wrangel Narrows to a floating dock on Kupreanov Island, where we did interesting hikes into the forest, and into a bog with a boardwalk. The vegetation is what caught our eye: a big area with scant trees, completely surrounded by tall Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock, and nearer to the edge of the muskeg, Alaska Yellow Cedar and Lodgepole Pine! These last trees have found a place to live, free of the pressures of the first two taller dominant trees. The smaller vegetation, consisting of wondrous plants, adapted to living in nutrient-poor soggy acid soil, consisted mostly of Sphagnum Moss, with ponds sporting buckbean plants. At the edges, small insect eating plants, the Sundews, of two species! These small plants eat insects that they catch with sticky extensions of their leaves, later to be digested. Bog Orchids, Bog Blueberries and Bog Cranberries were seen interspersed with Deer Cabbage, Bog Laurel and Bog Rosemary. Here we also saw the plant used by White Man some time ago, as a substitute for black tea: Labrador Tea.
Kayaking was in order, so that sport was undertaken as well, many of us enjoying a good time kayaking up a smaller creek in the area. And others yet, enjoyed a walk into town, to see the few shops with nice, local handicrafts and smoked salmon!
As night approached, we left the lovely town of Petersburg, and set our bow to the north and northwest, into the big body of water, Frederick Sound. After supper, while on our way to Scenery Cove in Thomas Bay, we sighted an adult black bear.
