Inian Islands and Fox Creek
Today we started on the wild edge, where the Gulf of Alaska meets the Inside Passage. The Inian Islands, the entrance to Icy Straits, where the deep wide water of the outer coast squeezes itself through relatively narrow openings twice each day as tides move in and out, to fill or drain thousands of miles of fjords and bays. Everything is stirred up, and minerals are brought from the depths to feed surface phytoplankton, the base of the marine food chain. From there the food web moves quickly to some of the more charismatic animal residents, and these were what we concentrated on as we explored in Zodiacs. Steller sea lions, rhinoceros auklets, marbled murrelets, bald eagles, cormorants, kingfishers, gulls, puffins, and of course, the otters! The viewing was “otterly” delightful: a mom with baby snuggled up on top of her as she floated on her back, otters swimming, having a rest in kelp beds, grooming their rich fur. Pretty cute, for weasels.
Shorelines on the outer islands are like nothing we have so far seen, with bare rock above the high tide line, a zone kept clear by surging surf and giant waves that pound the coast during winter storms. Without the usual cover of vegetation, we could admire the rocks. Beautiful they were, and at recap Ralph let us know: well-traveled too!
We stayed in this wild neighborhood for the afternoon, repositioning a short distance to Fox Creek on Chichagof Island. Now it was time to walk in the rainforest. Stroll among spruce trees. Meander near mushrooms. Sight some salmon swimming. Putter about a peat bog. We found animal sign: bear tracks, scat, and scratching trees, mink prints in mud, Sitka black-tailed deer tracks on the beach, middens of discarded spruce cone parts left by northern red squirrels. Meanwhile, kayakers circumnavigated a nearby island, and saw humpback whales. And a minke whale. From a kayak.
The sky was part of the show today too. It changed every minute, all day, a shifting patchwork of grey, black, white, and blue, and from time to time, every color of the rainbow. Literally. So many rainbows that we lost count, and the last, a brilliant double bow arching in front of our ship as we made our way across the straits in evening light. A promise, perhaps? It was leading us right toward Glacier Bay…
