Misty Fiords
We awoke in Behm Canal, a deep, glacially carved channel that slices through the heart of Misty Fiords National Monument, where we planned to spend the entire day. At first light, dense fog enveloped the National Geographic Sea Lion, but shortly before breakfast, silhouettes of conifers emerged on one shoreline, and a patch of blue sky appeared overhead. The clouds later burned off to expose brilliant sunlight and breathtaking scenery. Our goal was not to discover glaciers, for they retreated long ago, but to enjoy the vast showcase of glacial topography and forested slopes that lie within a protected wilderness as large as the state of Connecticut. We motored slowly through one of the fiords towards its end, soaking in the wildness and the welcome warmth from the sun.
We boarded Zodiacs and kayaks after lunch to get water-level views of the heavily treed landscape, steep rock faces, and a river that flushed muddy runoff into Rudyerd Bay. It was a little tricky to climb into the red and yellow kayaks from the ship, but eventually we took off in all directions to explore. Towering cliffs rose abruptly for 3000 feet to reach the skyline, and recent rain enhanced the many waterfalls that ranged from wispy bridal-veils to noisy cascades. Every now and then, shiny heads of curious harbor seals poked above the surface to investigate the unusual arrivals in their watery world. Dainty Bonaparte’s gulls along with their larger relatives the California, mew, and herring gulls perched on floating logs and shorelines overhung by western red-cedars, Sitka spruce and western hemlocks.
Gin fizzes lured people to the bow to watch the National Geographic Sea Lion slip through the narrow exit from the bay. Low-angle light played across the ridges but no longer reached us. Misty Fiords had not lived up to its name today, but no one complained.
