One of the most absorbing passions in exploring Southeast Alaska is seeing and reading patterns in nature. We become mesmerized by visual fractal images, like the blue and white patterns of eroded annual snow lines on the surface of a large iceberg. We ponder behavioral patterns, like the breathing and feeding sequences of humpback whales. We appreciate the specific successive patterns of reforestation and re-colonization by animals after glaciation. Ultimately, there are many fascinating patterns in nature to take in.

As we cruise the waters of Southeast Alaska's Alexander Archipelago, we become one with the sameness of island, mountain, ocean, ice, rainforest, and intertidal zone. We appreciate the dance of moisture, from evaporative clouds and fog, to rain, glacier movement, and floating ice. We gain a sense of the continuous patterns of advance and retreat of the region's sculpting glaciers. We transcend human timeframes and imagine geological plates in motion constantly changing the land we are exploring. We feel the pulse of the tides, watching the twice daily veiling and unveiling of a distinctive organic rainbow along the shoreline. We begin to learn of the specific habitats of the country's animal kind and see these majestic creatures more readily.

This morning by Zodiac we examined patterns in glacial fragments: annual snow lines, ice crystal spacing, and fantastical Rorshach imaginings in the large floating and grounded icebergs of LeConte Bay. In the afternoon we explored patterns in the rainforest as we hiked near Petersburg: transitions from spruce and hemlock forest to moist boggy muskeg, the flow and runoff of water, as well as the contorted spiraling bark patterns on yellow cedar and shore pines. And, in the evening we examined the patterns on the legs and claws of fresh Dungeness crabs as we enjoyed a hearty dinner.