Icy Strait & George Island
We spent our day today exploring the area in, and around, Icy Strait. Icy Strait forms one of the main connections from the Inside Passage to the Pacific Ocean, and it is a rich area that is home to a wide variety of marine life. Strong tidal currents mix these two water masses, setting up a very productive marine food web. Our day started off with bang, as some of the early risers spotted a young brown bear foraging along the shoreline. It was early enough that a few of our shipmates enjoyed our first bear sighting of the trip while still in their PJs. As we watched the bear, the silence was punctuated by the loud exhalations of several humpback whales that were feeding nearby and we soon left the bear to his breakfast, turning our attention to the whales that were feeding in the swirling currents off Point Adolphus. The whales were not alone, as there were quite a number of harbor porpoises, black-legged kittiwakes and marbled murrelets feeding along the tidal rips as well. Soon it was time for our breakfast and, as we enjoyed blueberry pancakes, the Sea Lion headed west ever closer to the mighty Pacific.
Our destination was tiny George Island where we went ashore to have a look around. George Island was the sight of a small military garrison during World War II and there are still remnants of their occupation, most notably a large cannon that guarded the entrance to Icy Strait against Japanese vessels. A group trekked out to see the gun, which sits on a bluff overlooking Cross Sound. The island is also interesting geologically, and we took the time to study the granitic rocks on the beach with geologist Doris Sloan. In the afternoon we investigated the waters around George Island, getting out in the kayaks and Zodiacs. Everyone came back with stories of strange and wonderful marine creatures such as purple stars, sunflower stars, sea lions and sea otters. Our day was not yet over, in the Inian Islands we passed a rock that is a favored haul out site for Steller sea lions. This site is not a breeding site and the sea lions here are males that are either too young or old to hold a breeding territory. Breeding or not, they still make quite a bit of noise as we could clearly hear their roaring bellows over the crashing surf. Our day was capped off by a visit into lower Dundas Bay, where we saw four black bears, and enjoyed watching three humpback whales put their flukes in the air.
We spent our day today exploring the area in, and around, Icy Strait. Icy Strait forms one of the main connections from the Inside Passage to the Pacific Ocean, and it is a rich area that is home to a wide variety of marine life. Strong tidal currents mix these two water masses, setting up a very productive marine food web. Our day started off with bang, as some of the early risers spotted a young brown bear foraging along the shoreline. It was early enough that a few of our shipmates enjoyed our first bear sighting of the trip while still in their PJs. As we watched the bear, the silence was punctuated by the loud exhalations of several humpback whales that were feeding nearby and we soon left the bear to his breakfast, turning our attention to the whales that were feeding in the swirling currents off Point Adolphus. The whales were not alone, as there were quite a number of harbor porpoises, black-legged kittiwakes and marbled murrelets feeding along the tidal rips as well. Soon it was time for our breakfast and, as we enjoyed blueberry pancakes, the Sea Lion headed west ever closer to the mighty Pacific.
Our destination was tiny George Island where we went ashore to have a look around. George Island was the sight of a small military garrison during World War II and there are still remnants of their occupation, most notably a large cannon that guarded the entrance to Icy Strait against Japanese vessels. A group trekked out to see the gun, which sits on a bluff overlooking Cross Sound. The island is also interesting geologically, and we took the time to study the granitic rocks on the beach with geologist Doris Sloan. In the afternoon we investigated the waters around George Island, getting out in the kayaks and Zodiacs. Everyone came back with stories of strange and wonderful marine creatures such as purple stars, sunflower stars, sea lions and sea otters. Our day was not yet over, in the Inian Islands we passed a rock that is a favored haul out site for Steller sea lions. This site is not a breeding site and the sea lions here are males that are either too young or old to hold a breeding territory. Breeding or not, they still make quite a bit of noise as we could clearly hear their roaring bellows over the crashing surf. Our day was capped off by a visit into lower Dundas Bay, where we saw four black bears, and enjoyed watching three humpback whales put their flukes in the air.
