The day began for us at 3am. That voice in our dreams was actually a soft announcement that the northern lights had appeared. As the ship cruised toward the Big Dipper and the north star, we stood on the bow, watching subtle waves of blue-green light pulsate gently overhead. The lights played across a broad sweep of sky, spot-lighted by a bright half moon which also highlighted the fact that we were headed into clear skies for the day to come.
We did manage to catch a few more hours of sleep before starting a full morning on George Island. Long hikers wallowed in the mire of a forest walk that, though wet from recent rains, gleamed in rays of sunlight penetrating through the canopy. Short hikers explored one of the island's cobbled beaches. Throughout the morning, the sea kayaks were in motion along the rocky shoreline. Sea otters also paddled along the coast, safely ensconced within the island's fringing kelp beds.
The smell of a salmon barbecue eventually lured all of us to a well-earned picnic lunch which the crew had magically set up on shore. We sat and ate heartily under sunny skies, shadowed only occasionally by the widespread wings of soaring bald eagles.
