What a day. We woke up to some of the most scenic cruising we’ve experienced so far. North Vancouver Island is a stunning region of British Columbia. Today, the Sunshine Coast lived up to its name with glorious weather. Guests soaked in the sun and lounged on the sundeck as if we were in tropical waters. In the afternoon, we jumped right into Zodiac cruises. Many boats saw harbor seals hauled out on rocks, sunbathing just like us. The clear waters made it easy to see numerous starfish and oyster beds below. After Zodiac cruising, we made it to land to hike along the trail to Unwin Lake. It is our final night, and we ended the evening by watching the guest slideshow and reminding ourselves of all the memories we made. Safe travels to all.
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 16 Sep 2023
Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park, British Columbia, 9/16/2023, National Geographic Sea Lion
- Aboard the National Geographic Sea Lion
- Alaska
Claire Dal Nogare, Naturalist
Claire is a proud Alaskan transplant. It was the hardiness of these frontiersmen that motivated her to become a pilot and commercial fisherman. When not in Alaska, she generally follows the Arctic tern's migration route from one polar region to anoth...
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Voyage to Alaska, British Columbia and Haida Gwaii
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5/11/2025
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We had a phenomenal day at Glacier Bay National Park. The sun was out, as was the wildlife. The bow was the place to be. Please enjoy the dialogue of the day from the bow: Ah, Lovely Sunrise. Dall’s porpoise! Killer whales! Oo, swans! Calving center! Bald eagle on ice. Brown bear, That’s a big one. Bald eagle in nest. I wish someone would find me a marmot. Marmot at 10! Where? Do you see that crack in the rock? To the left you’ll see a tree. Now go below the tree to the round rock. 6 goats plus bonus outcast goat. Low goats on ledge, wedged in nicely. Goats, goats everywhere, and a marmot here or there. Two puffins. Nice beak action. It’s like “I Spy” out here. Low goat at 11. Oh, really low goat. Oh, yea that’s a fella. Goats looking right at us, folks, good goat face. Oh, and whale spots at 1. Oh boy, I’m exhausted. That’s ok, take it one goat at a time. There’s a spout off the point. Classic humpback. Oh, glaucous winged gulls nesting at 2. And otters! Fly by puffins! Porpoising harbor porpoise! Needless to say, we had a good time. Photo by Shannon Malone
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As we continued our way north through Alaska, we had a favorite stop of mine in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness. We had a rainy day, which I enjoy because we can see at higher elevations since the rain turns to snow and, in turn, the snow feeds the absorption zone of the Sawyer Glaciers. We went out in the Zodiacs and navigated around the icebergs and bergy bits, even collecting a piece for the ice melt-off challenge. Once underway out of Tracy Arm, we saw some humpback whales. One whale had an entanglement of line on its fluke. The line was causing an obvious cut to the marine mammal. The correct authorities were notified about the condition of the whale and location of the sighting. Hopefully the whale will be assisted soon and the entanglement removed. Several other humpbacks were seen shortly after, luckily no entanglements on these. They were demonstrating surface feeding behavior, with one lunge feeding and the other making bubbles to catch its prey.