Alaska Journal - Day 5

At 1:48 this morning we crossed the US/Canadian border into Alaska.

Our TV let us know we had arrived.

Alaska officially became the 49th state on January 3, 1959.

Our first look at Alaska.  Pretty impressive!

We headed up to the bow to take in the scenery.

 Mark on the bow.

 Lush, green forest.

The state tree is the Sitka Spruce.

Lot's of water.

We were lucky to see this large pod of 19 Harbor Seals.

We had our first bear sighting.

This afternoon we explored Misty Fjords.  We had a choice of hiking, kayaking or a skiff tour.  We choose a skiff tour and headed to the lounge for orientation. 

After lunch we arrived at Misty Fjords.  The crew spent a while unloading kayaks, and skiffs.

Unloading one of four skiffs.

After boarding our skiff  we left the boat and headed out to open water.

Our guide, Mark, took us on a 2 1/2 hour tour of the fjords.

Mark, one of our guides.

With our very fast skiff, we’re able to get quite far from the boat.

Wilderness Discoverer.

We’re seeing lots of Bald Eagles and other birds.

Bald Eagle

Common Loons

Marbled Murrelets

After dinner the captain informs us that conditions are good for us to see the Northern Lights tonight.  He has instructed the crew to make an announcement if the lights are spotted, no matter what time of night or how faint.

We set our clothes out, just in case, and went to bed.  Around 11:30 the announcement came over the in-room speakers that the bridge was seeing lights.  We jumped in our clothes and headed to the bow.  The sky was an interesting green color and we were told that was the lights.  They weren’t swirling or changing color, it’s a little too early in the season for the big show.

After a while, we headed back to bed. 

Next time:  Ketchikan and the Tongass National Forest