Sitkoh and Hanus Bay
We awoke this morning in Sitkoh Bay, a narrow fjord on the southeast edge of Chichagoff Island. Calm wind, scattered clouds and abundant sunshine met the early risers. We scanned the shoreline for wildlife and observed several bald eagles resting in tall Sitka spruce along the edge of the bay. As we left the bay we encountered numerous humpback whales feeding in the rich waters of Chatham Strait. For the next two hours, we watched and learned much of the behavior of this complex and fascinating marine mammal. Several mothers with nursing young passed slowly by the Sea Lion as a solitary animal in the near distance slapped its pectoral fin repeatedly on the ocean surface. The highlight came when we encountered a group engaged in cooperative, bubble-net feeding. Ten to twelve whales repeatedly executed a complex maneuver using expelled bubbles, audible calls, and the flash of their pectoral fins to heard herring upward into a tight “bait ball.” The whales swim up through the fish and emerge with open mouths to feast on their hapless prey.
After lunch, we crossed Peril Strait and entered Hanus Bay for an afternoon filled with kayaking, Zodiac cruises, and hiking on Baranof Island. A full tide allowed our kayaks deep into a spawning stream where hundreds of pink (humpy) and some sockeye (red) salmon were resting before their final push upstream to spawn.
Hikers were greeted with a fairyland world of moss, ferns, fungi, broadleaf devils club, blueberries, and towering spruce and hemlock trees so typical of the temperate rainforest of southeast Alaska. Hikers observed the footprints, claw marks, and the scat of Alaskan brown bear along the trail. A beaver with a mouth full of twigs swam calmly into view along the eastern end of Lake Eva. With a flip of its tail it disappeared, heading no doubt to its den along the shore of the lake. A group of hikers bore witness to an awe-inspiring sight near a small waterfall. A large brown bear lumbered down to the river’s edge, stepped in, grabbed a salmon, and turned back to enter the forest. The links between the sea, the land, and the forest life could never be more clearly displayed.
We awoke this morning in Sitkoh Bay, a narrow fjord on the southeast edge of Chichagoff Island. Calm wind, scattered clouds and abundant sunshine met the early risers. We scanned the shoreline for wildlife and observed several bald eagles resting in tall Sitka spruce along the edge of the bay. As we left the bay we encountered numerous humpback whales feeding in the rich waters of Chatham Strait. For the next two hours, we watched and learned much of the behavior of this complex and fascinating marine mammal. Several mothers with nursing young passed slowly by the Sea Lion as a solitary animal in the near distance slapped its pectoral fin repeatedly on the ocean surface. The highlight came when we encountered a group engaged in cooperative, bubble-net feeding. Ten to twelve whales repeatedly executed a complex maneuver using expelled bubbles, audible calls, and the flash of their pectoral fins to heard herring upward into a tight “bait ball.” The whales swim up through the fish and emerge with open mouths to feast on their hapless prey.
After lunch, we crossed Peril Strait and entered Hanus Bay for an afternoon filled with kayaking, Zodiac cruises, and hiking on Baranof Island. A full tide allowed our kayaks deep into a spawning stream where hundreds of pink (humpy) and some sockeye (red) salmon were resting before their final push upstream to spawn.
Hikers were greeted with a fairyland world of moss, ferns, fungi, broadleaf devils club, blueberries, and towering spruce and hemlock trees so typical of the temperate rainforest of southeast Alaska. Hikers observed the footprints, claw marks, and the scat of Alaskan brown bear along the trail. A beaver with a mouth full of twigs swam calmly into view along the eastern end of Lake Eva. With a flip of its tail it disappeared, heading no doubt to its den along the shore of the lake. A group of hikers bore witness to an awe-inspiring sight near a small waterfall. A large brown bear lumbered down to the river’s edge, stepped in, grabbed a salmon, and turned back to enter the forest. The links between the sea, the land, and the forest life could never be more clearly displayed.
