This morning the National Geographic Sea Lion cruised through Frederick Sound to Thomas Bay where we took our dibs to shore to explore a location known as Cascade Creek. It was our first experience hiking on Southeastern Alaskan terrain, and we couldn’t have asked for a better trail. There was a great diversity of plants and trees, plenty of mud to get our boots dirty, a beautiful river to follow, and an amazing waterfall that provided an excellent location to pull out our cameras and get some stunning photographs. We were fortunate that the weather stayed dry throughout the entire morning, despite walking through the notably wet temperate rainforest. Once we were all back on board after a great morning of hikes through the forest, naturalist Max Seigal gave a presentation on the fisheries of Alaska based on his experience working as a fisheries biologist on vessels out of Dutch Harbor.
Following lunch the National Geographic Sea Lion pulled into Petersburg, a small fishing village that is home to about 3,500 inhabitants. The town has a strong Norwegian influence and its founder, Peter Buschmann, was a Norwegian man who established Petersburg as a fishing village in 1897 when he realized the potential to keep fish cold during storage by using ice from the nearby LeConte Glacier. Despite its small size, Petersburg is a major fishing port and processes about 100 million pounds of seafood annually. During the afternoon, we had several options to explore this quaint little town including bog walks, dock walks, a photo walk, and even a flight-seeing tour over the glacier.
After a busy day in Petersburg, we offer one of the highlight dinners the week, as we feature locally caught Alaskan Dungeness crab. It’s a free-for-all feast as we dig in the all you can eat crab buffet and fill our bellies as best we can. We will all sleep happily tonight, with tummies full of crab.
