Alaska 2023 - Day 4

5/17/2023 Wednesday - Our morning excursion was to the Inian Islands. These islands are quite exposed to the Gulf of Alaska, with no barrier islands protecting them. This makes for a lot of tricky currents and waves, and kayaking in this area was out of the question. 

Inian Islands circled in red

We went out in an inflatable skiff, leaving the Wilderness Discoverer at 8:30. The currents around the islands were pretty amazing, with whirlpools, rips, water running in different directions, etc. It became clear why they didn't want us kayaking out there!  Rica was our skiff captain and Peter was the guide for this trip, and both did a great job.

We were enjoying our fourth day of amazing weather. We saw several Humpback Whales, Steller's Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Sea Otters (many with babies), Bald Eagles, and Teri spotted a Tufted Puffin. 

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale with kelp on its tail flukes

Steller's Sea Lion

Sea Otter with baby on board

Another Sea Otter with a baby

As we headed back to our ship a different group of Humpback Whales was spotted, so we headed their direction. Rica positioned our skiff ahead of the direction that the whales were travelling, and then we just sat. Often they would pass quite close. 

Humpback Whale with another Wilderness Discoverer

skiff in the background. 

At 2:30 we went on a self-paced hike on George Island to see an old WWII cannon. After about a 2-minute skiff ride from the ship to a wet landing on the beach, we followed a decent trail up into a beautiful mossy forest. 

Skiff from ship to shore

Once ashore we walked at our own pace up to the WWII gun site. There were some amazing views from the trail. 

There was a side trail to a nice black-sand beach on a little cove. 

Teri on the black-sand beach

Skunk Cabbage was growing well along the trail.  We detected a bit of the aroma for which it is named!

Skunk Cabbage

Skunk Cabbage bloom

We arrived at the site of the WWII gun emplacement. We've run across of few of these before. Guns that were installed in strategic locations, just in case the shore needed to be defended from enemy ships. 

During the test firing of this gun, the gun base broke on the fourth round. The gun was covered with a tarp and never fired again! It was an interesting site to visit. 

Old Quonset Hut

We made our way back down to the beach, where we found that there was a delay getting back to the Wilderness Discoverer. The wind had really picked up and the ship's anchor was dragging, so we had to wait while they tried to re-anchor.

They couldn't get the anchor to hold, so finally gave up on that and held the ship in position with the engine while they recovered all of the skiffs. It was a rough transfer but was handled well and everyone got back on board without incident. Once all of the skiffs were back onto the ship we were underway once again. These seemed to be the roughest seas that we'd encountered. Things calmed down once we sailed into more sheltered waters.

Next - Happy Birthday to Mark, waterfalls, and more kayaking

Alaska 2023 - Day 3

5/16/2023 Tuesday - We woke up to three Brown Bears feeding on the beach as we motored toward Lamplugh Glacier. One was brown, one black, and the third blonde. 

Brown Bear (blonde)

Brown Bears (brown and black)

The ship anchored at the glacier, where we saw a Bald Eagle nest with an adult sitting in the nest on a cliff and another nearby. 

There were typically two different off-ship activities each day, and we selected what we wanted to do the evening before at dinner. Times and groups were communicated by these erasable sheets, and we got into the habit of taking pictures of them with our phones to keep things straight!

We were in Kayak Group C which was scheduled for 9:30 with Kelsie. We watched a different group leave before ours. The kayaks sure look small in this huge landscape!

A different group leaving the ship

Kelsie leading our tiny flotilla

Kayak C had only three kayaks plus the leader which made for a nice small group. UnCruise has a floating dock that is deployed off the back of the ship. They can load and launch 4 kayaks at a time, so we were away within a matter of minutes. 

Showing the kayak launch behind the ship

We paddled along the steep rocky shoreline toward the glacier. It was another astonishingly nice day. Bright, sunny and only a little cool. We couldn't believe the luck we were having with the weather. 

We paddled along the front of the glacier, checking out a number of grounded "growlers" (pieces of an iceberg less than 3' tall and 15' across) and bergy bits (up to the size of a small cottage) and had a curious Harbor Seal follow us around, popping up in various spots around the boats. 

Teri checking out a bergy bit

I decided to try tasting a small chunk of floating ice that I picked up. It was pretty good and I kept it for most of the paddle, letting it melt into my mouth. Pure Alaska glacier water!

The glacier is no longer technically a tidewater glacier as it has retreated back a bit, but we could still hear it creaking and groaning.  Kelsie took a few pictures of kayaks crossing in front of the Lamplugh Glacier. Here's ours:

We returned to the ship, and relaxed on the sun deck before lunch. 

Once all of the kayaks and inflatables were recovered back onto the ship, we got underway. The crew did this every day, launching and recovering fifteen or more kayaks and up to four inflatable skiffs. It was interesting to watch. One minute a crew member would be leading a kayak tour, and the next they might be operating the hydraulic crane to lift an inflatable back onto the upper deck. 

Glacier Bay National Park limits cruise ships to two days in the park, so it was time for us to get under way. Before long another Brown Bear was spotted on the beach, this time much closer to the ship. 

On the way out we stopped at Margerie Glacier which is a beautiful tidewater glacier, meaning that it reaches the ocean. It calved off some small chunks while we watched, but nothing epic. 

Margerie Glacier

Margerie Glacier calving

There were hundreds of birds feeding at the base of the glacier. Apparently the freshwater running into the bay from the base of the glacier attracts fish that the birds feed on. They seemed to enjoy sitting on the floating pieces of ice. 

Black-legged Kittiwakes

Pigeon Guillemots

We stopped at Gloomy Knob where we saw about a dozen Mountain Goats spread out on the cliffs, feeding casually and moving along impossible looking routes. 

We also enjoyed a feeding Humpback Whale that got quite close to the ship.

Humpback Whale feeding

And the parade of Sea Otters continued as well. They seem to really like this area!

Sea Otter with baby on top

A flyby by a Pelagic Cormorant was our final wildlife sighting of the day. 

After dinner we attended a short talk on Puffins by one of the guide team (Peter) who was very enthusiastic about them. It had been a wonderful day. 

Next: Inian Islands and WWII