Pavlof Harbor/Chatham Strait
Freshwater Bay is a narrow finger that juts into the eastern side of Chichagof Island. Pavlof Harbor is a small indentation within that bay where a salmon stream runs down from a lake, spills over a waterfall and enters tidewater. We anchored here this morning and went ashore for hiking and kayaking. The first hikers, however, stopped short of the falls when they noticed two brown grizzly bears fishing in the shallows below. Shortly, the other hikers joined the group of observers, and the kayakers and Zodiac riders quietly cruised as far up the inlet as the tide would allow them. Everyone had excellent viewing and photography opportunities over the next couple of hours that we spent with these interconnected symbols of Southeast Alaska – bears and salmon. The salmon were bringing nutrients from the ocean into the stream system, some of which will nourish their next generation. The bears, along with bald eagles and many other organisms, help to distribute the salmon into the forest, intimately connecting the marine and terrestrial biomes. To distract us from the bears, two great blue herons flew very close to the people on the bank. One swallowed the head of a fish that a bear had left behind.
Another special treat was in store for us in the afternoon. We were called up on deck when we came upon a large group of humpback whales cooperatively feeding in Iyoukeen Inlet, along the shore of Chichagof Island. Eighteen well-coordinated whales would simultaneously erupt at the surface with their mouths wide open and ventral pleats extended after about two minutes of corralling herring into a concentrated ball with a net of bubbles under water. Sounds are used by the whales to communicate during each feeding bout and we were able to listen to their eerie and mournful reverberations with our hydrophone (an underwater microphone). This behavior is known only among certain animals in Southeast Alaska. This same group has been feeding together in this area for many years. Few people have had the privilege and good fortune to experience this extraordinary activity.
As if the day wasn’t already overwhelming, our dinner was interrupted with an announcement about killer whales in front of the ship. A large pod of “resident” salmon-eating whales, with a mature male, females and sub-adults, and some youngsters known to frequent the area, escorted us as darkness encroached and this exciting and remarkable day came to an end… or had it…?
Freshwater Bay is a narrow finger that juts into the eastern side of Chichagof Island. Pavlof Harbor is a small indentation within that bay where a salmon stream runs down from a lake, spills over a waterfall and enters tidewater. We anchored here this morning and went ashore for hiking and kayaking. The first hikers, however, stopped short of the falls when they noticed two brown grizzly bears fishing in the shallows below. Shortly, the other hikers joined the group of observers, and the kayakers and Zodiac riders quietly cruised as far up the inlet as the tide would allow them. Everyone had excellent viewing and photography opportunities over the next couple of hours that we spent with these interconnected symbols of Southeast Alaska – bears and salmon. The salmon were bringing nutrients from the ocean into the stream system, some of which will nourish their next generation. The bears, along with bald eagles and many other organisms, help to distribute the salmon into the forest, intimately connecting the marine and terrestrial biomes. To distract us from the bears, two great blue herons flew very close to the people on the bank. One swallowed the head of a fish that a bear had left behind.
Another special treat was in store for us in the afternoon. We were called up on deck when we came upon a large group of humpback whales cooperatively feeding in Iyoukeen Inlet, along the shore of Chichagof Island. Eighteen well-coordinated whales would simultaneously erupt at the surface with their mouths wide open and ventral pleats extended after about two minutes of corralling herring into a concentrated ball with a net of bubbles under water. Sounds are used by the whales to communicate during each feeding bout and we were able to listen to their eerie and mournful reverberations with our hydrophone (an underwater microphone). This behavior is known only among certain animals in Southeast Alaska. This same group has been feeding together in this area for many years. Few people have had the privilege and good fortune to experience this extraordinary activity.
As if the day wasn’t already overwhelming, our dinner was interrupted with an announcement about killer whales in front of the ship. A large pod of “resident” salmon-eating whales, with a mature male, females and sub-adults, and some youngsters known to frequent the area, escorted us as darkness encroached and this exciting and remarkable day came to an end… or had it…?
