Dundas Bay and Idaho Inlet
However shall I describe this day? It was a gray day, with shades of slate when the light slides across the surface. All day the fog banks came and went, lifted and lowered, kept us guessing their intentions, outwitting us to the end. However it changed nothing and everything. Although we planned originally for a landing in the morning, we hiked in the afternoon. We thought to cruise in the afternoon, yet we sailed in the morning. The bay of Dundas, part of Glacier Bay National Park was quiet and mysterious before breakfast. The ship rounded an island, and unexpectedly a bear was surprised foraging the intertidal mudbank exposed by the lowering tide. We stared at each other until the situation sank in, and then he moved across the bank, swam the narrow reach, and climbed up the rocky embankment and into the forest.
The Inian Islands proved to be refuge for Steller sea lions hauled out on the outer coast, as well as sea otters floating in the marine forests of kelp, some with kits on their bellies and furry faces nose to nose. Humpback whales blew, inhaled and sank, out of sight for minutes on end. A breaching whale caught our attention, but alas, was not repeated.
Idaho Inlet was sanctuary from the waves of typical Alaskan weather, not slowing us in the least from our intentions. Hikes back across the meadows of Marble Creek and kayaking had us listening to the raven sitting in the spruce nearby.
I am given joking credit for the performance that has us standing shivering (excitement or temperature?) on the bow minutes before the planned recap: a young, frisky humpback whale decides to test it’s strength against the boundaries of water and air. It escapes! Head throws! Tail lobs! Breaching! Even headstands are tried out as mother swims serenely below with an occasional surface lunge for fish. Enthralled, we stand in the Alaskan dusk and watch.
