Kelp Bay to Sitkoh Bay, Southeast Alaska
For the fourth day in a row the sun is shining brightly as the early risers come on deck to view a bear on shore – spotted, as usual, by Lee Moll. Just before breakfast the Sea Bird is hovering just in front of spectacular Kaznyku Falls, as it thunders down a steep mountainside into the sea.
Our morning hiking and kayaking event was at Pond Island in Kelp Bay on Baranof Island. Kayaking conditions were absolutely perfect, with clear blue skies and a calm sea. The extra added attraction was a humpback whale that cruised around offshore, sometimes within a few hundred feet of the kayakers. Onshore we hiked through a salt marsh estuary to an environment dominated by beaver activity. About a mile from shore these industrious animals had built a dam about six feet high that has completely flooded the interior of the island. We saw plentiful evidence of their presence, including many trees with the bark gnawed off and others that had been chewed through to sharp pointed stumps. We also saw dozens of Boreal Toads, the only one of its kind in Southeast Alaska and a relatively unusual sighting.
After Mike Nolan’s lecture on the Cetaceans of Southeast Alaska (fabulously illustrated by his own photos), we continued on to Sitkoh Bay for a series of Zodiac cruises. There was some historic interest here because we anchored near the site of an old fish cannery that operated through the 1960s. It has since fallen into ruin, but is now in the process of restoration by new owners. The scenery was great, but the highlight of the cruise had to be a salmon stream that was absolutely bank to bank with pink salmon (humpies) gathering for the spawning charge. The stream was quite small, but there were thousands of fish leaping and thrashing about, waiting for the metabolic changes that will allow them to relentless swim back up to the spawning grounds in this freshwater where they were born and where they will die; completing one of the most remarkable cycles in the natural world.
For the fourth day in a row the sun is shining brightly as the early risers come on deck to view a bear on shore – spotted, as usual, by Lee Moll. Just before breakfast the Sea Bird is hovering just in front of spectacular Kaznyku Falls, as it thunders down a steep mountainside into the sea.
Our morning hiking and kayaking event was at Pond Island in Kelp Bay on Baranof Island. Kayaking conditions were absolutely perfect, with clear blue skies and a calm sea. The extra added attraction was a humpback whale that cruised around offshore, sometimes within a few hundred feet of the kayakers. Onshore we hiked through a salt marsh estuary to an environment dominated by beaver activity. About a mile from shore these industrious animals had built a dam about six feet high that has completely flooded the interior of the island. We saw plentiful evidence of their presence, including many trees with the bark gnawed off and others that had been chewed through to sharp pointed stumps. We also saw dozens of Boreal Toads, the only one of its kind in Southeast Alaska and a relatively unusual sighting.
After Mike Nolan’s lecture on the Cetaceans of Southeast Alaska (fabulously illustrated by his own photos), we continued on to Sitkoh Bay for a series of Zodiac cruises. There was some historic interest here because we anchored near the site of an old fish cannery that operated through the 1960s. It has since fallen into ruin, but is now in the process of restoration by new owners. The scenery was great, but the highlight of the cruise had to be a salmon stream that was absolutely bank to bank with pink salmon (humpies) gathering for the spawning charge. The stream was quite small, but there were thousands of fish leaping and thrashing about, waiting for the metabolic changes that will allow them to relentless swim back up to the spawning grounds in this freshwater where they were born and where they will die; completing one of the most remarkable cycles in the natural world.
