Sitkoh Bay, Chichagof Island and Cruising Frederick Sound
Sunrise – mountains, sky, forest and water. Seemingly separate entities but also connected. Sometimes, like this morning, they blend into each other so well that it is hard to tell where one ends and the next begins.
The dawn this morning (well, our dawn at 7 a.m.…not the real 4 a.m. dawn) brought us a sight that no one onboard had ever seen in SE Alaska before. As Captain Graves eased the Sea Lion toward the head of Sitkoh Bay, we sighted three bears in the lush grassy meadow, then six, then twelve, and finally the agreed upon number was 16. Sixteen brown bears all ringing the same meadow, all visible from our location! Wow! At least three were sows with cubs, one of which had three cubs. Brown bears are normally solitary animals except in places with abundant food supplies. There was not a salmon run to lure them into each other’s sight. However, the bear communications that took place to arrange this sort of sharing will remain a mystery to us. Maybe the lush meadow grass was all that was needed.
After breakfast, we went ashore for some hiking and kayaking. We kayakers, wanting to respect the peaceful mood set by the omnivorous, inhabitants, slid quietly over the water admiring the beauty of the morning. The adult bears, undisturbed by our presence, continued with their constant foraging. The cubs found time to romp and frollick with each other. The hikers, some distance from the meadow, sang out the “yo bear” mantra as they stretched their legs, visited with banana slugs, and saw ample evidence of the brown bears wanderings.
It is now twelve hours later and the clear skies, sunshine and snowy peaks in Frederick Sound are overwhelming with their brightness and beauty. They have provided the backdrop for an afternoon of relaxed travel and whale watching. Humpbacks, Dall’s porpoises, and a lone, male, killer whale have rounded out our day. We should be getting ready to retire for the evening, but who can go inside on a night like this when the sun is still out and now the ship is surrounded by humpbacks?
Sunrise – mountains, sky, forest and water. Seemingly separate entities but also connected. Sometimes, like this morning, they blend into each other so well that it is hard to tell where one ends and the next begins.
The dawn this morning (well, our dawn at 7 a.m.…not the real 4 a.m. dawn) brought us a sight that no one onboard had ever seen in SE Alaska before. As Captain Graves eased the Sea Lion toward the head of Sitkoh Bay, we sighted three bears in the lush grassy meadow, then six, then twelve, and finally the agreed upon number was 16. Sixteen brown bears all ringing the same meadow, all visible from our location! Wow! At least three were sows with cubs, one of which had three cubs. Brown bears are normally solitary animals except in places with abundant food supplies. There was not a salmon run to lure them into each other’s sight. However, the bear communications that took place to arrange this sort of sharing will remain a mystery to us. Maybe the lush meadow grass was all that was needed.
After breakfast, we went ashore for some hiking and kayaking. We kayakers, wanting to respect the peaceful mood set by the omnivorous, inhabitants, slid quietly over the water admiring the beauty of the morning. The adult bears, undisturbed by our presence, continued with their constant foraging. The cubs found time to romp and frollick with each other. The hikers, some distance from the meadow, sang out the “yo bear” mantra as they stretched their legs, visited with banana slugs, and saw ample evidence of the brown bears wanderings.
It is now twelve hours later and the clear skies, sunshine and snowy peaks in Frederick Sound are overwhelming with their brightness and beauty. They have provided the backdrop for an afternoon of relaxed travel and whale watching. Humpbacks, Dall’s porpoises, and a lone, male, killer whale have rounded out our day. We should be getting ready to retire for the evening, but who can go inside on a night like this when the sun is still out and now the ship is surrounded by humpbacks?
