Petersburg
The rain found us this morning, but so did a group of "Orca"! The call came over the PA system a little earlier than 7:00 a.m. that killer whales were nearby. The officers of the Sea Lion had followed the great marine mammals for a while before we were called to the deck. The whales were going the wrong way from where we wanted to go, but we tracked them for a while because views like these are hard to come by. We broke off from the whales and headed into Petersburg for our morning's activities. These included helicopter flightseeing to one of the many glaciers along the Stikine Ice Field, walking around town on your own, or going out to Blind Rapids for a look at a muskeg and active salmon stream with the naturalists. Our luxury motor coach, which looked suspiciously like a big yellow school bus, took us to the boardwalk that runs over the bog. We had a chance to see the unique plants in the bog and then the fishermen, both human, bird, and bear, try their hand, talon and paw at catching the hardy salmon as they swam through the rapids on their way to the spawning grounds. The most dramatic being the numerous bald eagles holding sentry over the river. Their bold silhouettes at the top of the trees showing they literally are at the top of the food chain. We all returned to town, seeing a few Sitka black tailed deer along the way, talking of salmon and forest.
During lunch the ship left Petersburg for Le Conte bay where the Le Conte glacier has been calving ice and retreating for the better part of a decade. Here there were chances for flightseeing over the glacier or taking an ice tour in the Zodiac, while enjoying a little hot chocolate no less. Our encounters with blue ice sculptures and the wind whipped water recalled a Dr. Suess type of reality where down was up and warm air came off of frozen rivers. The sun came out again tonight during our crab and rib feast. It was another glorious end to a great day.
The rain found us this morning, but so did a group of "Orca"! The call came over the PA system a little earlier than 7:00 a.m. that killer whales were nearby. The officers of the Sea Lion had followed the great marine mammals for a while before we were called to the deck. The whales were going the wrong way from where we wanted to go, but we tracked them for a while because views like these are hard to come by. We broke off from the whales and headed into Petersburg for our morning's activities. These included helicopter flightseeing to one of the many glaciers along the Stikine Ice Field, walking around town on your own, or going out to Blind Rapids for a look at a muskeg and active salmon stream with the naturalists. Our luxury motor coach, which looked suspiciously like a big yellow school bus, took us to the boardwalk that runs over the bog. We had a chance to see the unique plants in the bog and then the fishermen, both human, bird, and bear, try their hand, talon and paw at catching the hardy salmon as they swam through the rapids on their way to the spawning grounds. The most dramatic being the numerous bald eagles holding sentry over the river. Their bold silhouettes at the top of the trees showing they literally are at the top of the food chain. We all returned to town, seeing a few Sitka black tailed deer along the way, talking of salmon and forest.
During lunch the ship left Petersburg for Le Conte bay where the Le Conte glacier has been calving ice and retreating for the better part of a decade. Here there were chances for flightseeing over the glacier or taking an ice tour in the Zodiac, while enjoying a little hot chocolate no less. Our encounters with blue ice sculptures and the wind whipped water recalled a Dr. Suess type of reality where down was up and warm air came off of frozen rivers. The sun came out again tonight during our crab and rib feast. It was another glorious end to a great day.
