Thursday, July 10: More Bushwhacking, Great whale-watching

I'd say this was the best day of the cruise for me, although it was a hard choice after the great snorkeling trip Tuesday.  Ron spent most of the day resting in the room because he had a bad cold, but at least had the passing view of Alaska to enjoy.

I started with another bushwhacking hike, this one on Roberts Island.  Most of the climb was practically straight up.  

The forests in Alaska are beautiful- you really get an idea of what nature is like when it's untouched by humans.  When a tree falls, the stump is covered by vegetation and it becomes a source for new growth.  The biologists in the group said that many of the lichens we encountered were a sign of very pure air; any kind of pollution prevents them from flourishing.   The tiny flowers below are orchids.

Made it to the top!  The trip back down was actually a little more strenuous.  It didn't help that at one point the guide surprised a nest of angry, winged things that may have been hornets or wasps or bees.  We retreated before we could find out what they were.

We'd started out in fog so thick that there was only 1/4 mile of visibility.  Even after we emerged from the forest, there was a mist that made the landscape look surreal.  On the way back, we saw a whale about 50 feet from the boat, but it was there and gone before I could get a picture! As we arrived  near the ship, which was clearly visible now, the Captain playfully tooted the foghorn anyway.

The island had an interesting mix of rocks.  The layers below are schist, but there were also patches of basalt in "waves: where it had solidified, and random rocks from other areas left behind by the glaciers.

That was just the morning!  After lunch I took a nap and then went out in a kayak for awhile.  The water was so clear that I could see the marine life below including some beautiful sea stars.  

Below is Five Fingers Lighthouse.  When we came thought two years ago, it was the site of a study of whale behavior, so named because most of the scientists on the project were women.  One of them had come on the ship to talk about their work, and I swear she attracted whales- they kept showing up around the ship as she talked.  Sadly, the project lost its funding so the lighthouse is unused.

We had the best whale-watching of the whole trip that night; fortunately, many were kind enough to show up on the side of our stateroom, so Ron had a good view of them without even getting out of bed.  Not every picture came out well, but here are a few.  The first two are humpbacks building a "bubble net" to trap fish- a complex teamwork project that shows how intelligent whales are.  The bottom one had to be cropped and enlarged a lot but yes, it's an orca.