Alaska Journal - Day 7

We woke up to rain this morning and it ended up raining all day.  A little rain didn’t stop any of the activities on the boat, however.

Our time today was spent in Walker Cove in the Misty Fjords National Monument area. 

It isn't hard to see where the name "Misty" comes from.

Our information said “Home to nearly every ecosystem in Southeast Alaska -- stunning glacial valleys filled with seawater, untouched wetlands and estuaries, and 3,000 foot vertical cliffs that are a haven for wildlife.  Soak in the splendor of this largely unknown corner of the world with an up-close look at this majestic, 2.3 million acre wilderness”.

We saw lots of wildlife in this area including Black Bear, Humpback Whales, and more birds.

The sides of the fjords are incredibly steep, and this Humpback Whale was diving right alongside the edge of the water.

It is easy to see where White-winged Scoters get their name!

After lunch we were signed up for a guided kayak tour with Lindsey.  The bridge had spotted a Brown Bear (Grizzly) mother with her cub digging up clams on a nearby shore. In this picture you can see the large shoulder hump that helps to identify these as Brown Bears. 

The ship had to drop anchor, which is very loud. We were afraid that it would spook the bears, but they just looked up. They ended up feeding on this beach the entire time we were there (6 hours).

At our allotted time we got in the kayaks and Lindsey led the way toward the bears.

We were not going to get very close - all the guides were very cautious about confronting any of the wildlife in any way that would impact their behavior.  There were 7 kayaks in our group and it didn’t take long before I started to hear a lot of grumblings and complaining about the wet, cold weather.  Mark and I were warm, dry, and snug in our new rain gear.

This is a photo that Lindsey took of us.  

As you can tell by the water, it really wasn’t raining all that hard.

After getting a look at the Brown bears, Lindsey took a vote on who wanted to return to the boat and who wanted to stay out for the rest (most) of our allotted time.  Not surprising Mark and I were the only ones wanting to continue with the trip.  We escorted everyone back to the boat then Lindsey and us went on our way.  Lindsey was happy to keep going and we weren’t going to let a little rain stop us!

We headed back to the bears.  Even though we weren’t able to get very close, we still got great looks. This shot was taken from the kayak with my small camera.

After watching the bears for quite some time, we started paddling around again and saw some beautiful waterfalls.

Uh -- Oh!

Oh No!

Yep.  5 days left on our trip and my camera died!

We stayed out with Lindsey and saw lots of beautiful star fish (unfortunately, no pictures).

Next time:  All is not lost - Mark still has his big camera and a smart phone.  I have my kindle that takes pictures.