George Island/Inian Islands
Today was jam-packed full of fresh opportunities to observe nature’s amazing array of creatures large and small, bright and beautiful—from jellyfish and sea stars to Steller’s sea lions and the ever-majestic humpback whales. In the picture above a curious Steller’s sea lion pokes its head out of the azure waters surrounding the Inian Islands to check out guests in a Zodiac. Some of the Steller’s sea lions seemed as curious about us as we were about them.
This morning our ship so aptly named after these creatures, Sea Lion, anchored off George Island. From our base at Marble Cove some of us explored the intertidal area from the sea using kayaks; others of us examined the intertidal area from the land. A third group hiked overland to see the remains of a World War II outpost that once stood guard over the northernmost entrance to the Inside Passage. The six-inch gun salvaged from a World War I ship has stood here since 1944 as a silent reminder of that global conflict. With the exception of that one massive gun, a Quonset hut once used to store ammunition, and the crumbling remains of the barracks and latrine, Mother Nature has almost wholly reclaimed the outpost site.
All day long we have been exploring within sight of Cape Spencer, the northernmost point of the fabled Inside Passage that extends south along the Alaska panhandle, the coast of British Columbia, and Washington’s Puget Sound to its southern terminus in the tidal mudflats near Olympia.
Today was jam-packed full of fresh opportunities to observe nature’s amazing array of creatures large and small, bright and beautiful—from jellyfish and sea stars to Steller’s sea lions and the ever-majestic humpback whales. In the picture above a curious Steller’s sea lion pokes its head out of the azure waters surrounding the Inian Islands to check out guests in a Zodiac. Some of the Steller’s sea lions seemed as curious about us as we were about them.
This morning our ship so aptly named after these creatures, Sea Lion, anchored off George Island. From our base at Marble Cove some of us explored the intertidal area from the sea using kayaks; others of us examined the intertidal area from the land. A third group hiked overland to see the remains of a World War II outpost that once stood guard over the northernmost entrance to the Inside Passage. The six-inch gun salvaged from a World War I ship has stood here since 1944 as a silent reminder of that global conflict. With the exception of that one massive gun, a Quonset hut once used to store ammunition, and the crumbling remains of the barracks and latrine, Mother Nature has almost wholly reclaimed the outpost site.
All day long we have been exploring within sight of Cape Spencer, the northernmost point of the fabled Inside Passage that extends south along the Alaska panhandle, the coast of British Columbia, and Washington’s Puget Sound to its southern terminus in the tidal mudflats near Olympia.
