Today is Haines day! Haines is a small coastal town that is brimming with neat activities for our guests. While some guests enjoyed a deep hike into a temperate rainforest or a walk through meadows of flowers, others went fly fishing, cycling, or floating on a river raft. Some guests spent the day in town bebopping around into shops, breweries, and museums. Haines day is always a guest favorite. We left the dock in the early evening to head for Cross Sound. Tomorrow, we are exploring the Inian Islands! We closed our day with a stunningly vivid double rainbow after dinner. It was such an amazing day in Southeast Alaska.
5/5/2025
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National Geographic Sea Lion
Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness
Throughout the night, National Geographic Sea Lion cruised south in Chatham Strait. Heading further south into Stephens Passage, we approached Holkham Bay and the entrance to Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness, 653,179 acres of land which received the highest level of protection from Congress in 1980. Most of our day would be spent exploring the deep fjords which make up the heart of the Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness. Zodiacs were dropped and our group was divided in half, each group taking an hour and a half traveling up the fjord to the face of Dawes Glacier. White thunder sounded from the face of the glacier, birds circled, and harbor porpoises showed their dorsal fins. Due to heavy rain, waterfalls of many sizes were everywhere. Once Zodiac rides returned to the ship, our floating home began a cruise back down Endicott Arm heading for Holkham Bay and the entrance back to Stephens Passage. A very silly brown bear, humpback whales, Steller sea lions, and more porpoises were observed throughout the afternoon and early evening. It was an amazing first day, and Southeast Alaska was enjoyed by all, with so much more to come!
