ALASKA Today’s Adventure: Tourists Wildlife Immersion 

• June 24, 2023
• By Daryl
• 0 Comment

Today’s Adventure: Tourists Wildlife Immersion 

We jump out of the Whale and run to Jonah, to bounce down the road past potholes and road construction. Early arrival at the Boat Tour place, guarantees choice parking. 

We roll down the boat ramp to bound up the gangplank to reserve a deck chair on port and starboard viewing sides. Theory being; unique photos by each of us.

We passed by an American Bald Eagle, guardedly perched on a buoy at harbor’s edges.

After I viewed open water for about twenty minutes I see a floating piece of driftwood, but then the mirage transformed into a sea otter on his back relaxing in the fog. Unfortunately the mirage slowed my reflexes, so a photo documentation is unavailable.

Getting a little bored, I seek some Bunny tenderness. Sitting together, now, a rugged wall of rock, covered by a veil of wispy fog that obliterated the palatial mountain views.  I give in to more unique photos idea, for companionship and conversation. Everything is better with Bunny in it.

We pass a lone refuge of solace. A small cabin with a private beach and waterfall. Visions of a life of quiet fill my senses, as in a fiction writer’s dream place.

Before joining Bunny, my boat side had uneventful wildlife viewing, given in to a serene, heavenly tranquil boat ride across turquoise smooth waters. Not much time had passed, before   Fox Island was just ahead.

Fox Island Lodge provided us with lunch of wild salmon, lots of salads and a few precious morsels of perfectly prepared flank steak. We enjoyed pink lemonade to wash down delectable one-inch square deserts.  

With bellies full, we take a walk back to a lake behind the lodge, to capture ducks swimming on the placid lake, still enveloped in fog, eclipsing the majestic snow capped mountains.

We go the other way, close to the flat stone beach. The flat stones fueled many young boys to a stone-skipping contest.

A couple of ladies who we sat near to at dinner out, the night before, were enjoying the view.  Conversation ensued, before I wandered to take a few photos.

The Captain blasted his horn two times, signaling us to return to our boat.

With seabirds floating overhead, the coastline was studded with views of spruce and black spruce trees, as we passed by.
Remnants of landslides dot the hillsides, from the 1964 earthquake, and subsequent tsunami.

During the Ice Age, the glaciers sculpted the fiords with vertical sides cliffs soaring thousands of feet high.  The trees line the tops like a a flattop haircut.

Streams flow with white water as it drops down the steep canyons. A couple of aluminum fishing boats pass by, as a small stream snaking down another canyon came into view.

Aialik Peninsula and Chevel Island were loaded with nesting Puffin, Murre, Cormorant and other birds, by the thousands. We also saw a lone Coastal Mountain Goat that climbed down the cliff, for some succulent greens.

Several Bald Eagles were perched on the tallest trees. Stellar Sea Lions and one lone Harbor Seal rested on huge chunks of the cliff, that at one time had fallen into the water, making small islands. 

As we headed to open Pacific waters, we see two Dall’s Porpoise. Untrained eyes would swear they were baby Orcas, or also called Killer Whales, as the coloring is similar. 

The Captain calls out “Thar She Blows,” as a Humpback Whale spewed hot air out before diving down, showing off its tail slipping into the drink.
After several dives, two other boats with tourists, came in to share the view.

This ended our tour and wildlife sea safari and we headed back in to the harbor.

The crew baked up some delicious cookies and handed them out to all the tourists, as we passed a World War ll gunner turret and a concrete bunker.

A Seagull escorts us back into the bay, waiting for fish scraps, but no fishing was done, so it abandons its pursuit.

The last stop was Rock Spire in Aailik Bay. Tall pinnacle rocks making up tiny islands, thousands of feet high. Some had spruce trees growing from the top. They were very reminiscent of what we saw in Bi Tu Long Bay in Vietnam.

As we returned to the harbor, that same American Bald Eagle was still standing guard on his favorite light house post, at the edge of the boat mores.