Elfin Cove and George Island
Fog can make lovely sceneries stand out many times over. This happened to be the case this morning, when we were almost completely shrouded by dense fog for a couple of hours as we waited in the proximity of George Island, a small, very rough island, right amongst the Inian Island group. This island lies at the easternmost entrance to Icy Straits, called Cross Sound, an area where ocean currents are strong and where water upwelling is of the utmost importance; the blooming of incredible amounts of phytoplankton leads to enormous amounts of zooplankton, which cause the fish populations to explode! Here the dominant fish is herring, though sand lance and young capelin are also abundant. A large number of humpback whales are to be found here every day during the late spring, summer and early fall months, depositing enormous amounts of blubber to be utilized during the winter migration south.
Elfin Cove is a very small fishing community, hidden between rocky cliffs in the extreme northern point of Chichagof Island. With a few fishing lodges and tourist shops and a great number of different-type fishing boats, it has a very special, unique flavor. As we were leaving this enchanted corner of Alaska, we saw a great amount of king and Coho salmon being offloaded from a small longliner.
On George Island, in the very near vicinity of Elfin Cove, we had a series of hikes. One of them led to a WWII gun emplacement on a high hill, with a 6” gun still in position. An uncommon plant there is the hare-bell, with its delicate blue color flowers. The views were formidable! Other groups did a shorter hike, which led to a sandy beach with a great number of tracks of deer and river otter. Here Steve Engel, one of our naturalists, made a series of plaster casts of the best, and showed us different ways of interpreting these animal tracks. Kayaking in the area has the advantage of beautiful scenery and a small island to visit. The last group had a Zodiak tour around the small isle, where masses of bull kelp and giant kelp floated at the surface, and great numbers of sea birds fed. Cocktail hour brought us a slimebone concert dubbed “The Bullkelp Bugle,” done by Amy Cadge (one of the deck crew) and Mary Ellen Stratthaus (guest), accompanying Steve at the guitar.
