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where is gmack now? innersea discoveries expedition week 10

It has been an exciting week on the InnerSea Discoveries Expedition Click Links Below to read daily updates from Week 10 of the Trip:

July 2 - July 9, 2011

 

Saturday | July 2

TURNOVER DAY = SWABBING THE DECKS

Sunday | July 3

GLACIER CALVING, SEALS & WHALES

Monday | July 4

HAPPY 4^TH OF JULY, EVERYBODY!

Tuesday | July 5

MOOSE PELLETS

Wednesday | July 6

CHIEF SHAKES LODGE

Thursday |July 7

SNORKELING AND BANJO PLAYING

Friday | July 8

CLAM-EATING BEAR

Saturday | July 9

“WE NEED THE GREGgle APP!”

 

 

Thursday | June 30th

Frederick Sound

Last night we motored into this most stunning of bays on Baranof Island. The majority of guests decide to kayak up the fiord to the splendid waterfall that seems to fall out of the sky down a precipice covered in conifers. Just beyond at the head of the bay on about two hundred acres of mudflats and meadows, a grizzly bear feeds on grasses. Kayakers line themselves along the edge of the river opposite the bear. A bald eagle is perched on a stump, providing another photographic opportunity.

What is the difference between a BROWN bear and a GRIZZLY bear, you may ask? They are the same species, Ursus arctos. The coastal grizzly is called a brown bear. It is significantly larger than the interior grizzly bear because of diet and climate.

Salmon are in abundance along the coast of Alaska. Because the waters of the Gulf of Alaska warm the air enough to moderate the temperatures along the coast, brownies can stay active a couple of months longer than the interior grizzlies. The latter have to deal with temperatures that drop well below freezing, triggering the hibernation response.

We spot a brown bear on the flats and kayak upriver a few hundred meters to get a better look. An eagle perched on a beached stump above the mud-flats was a favorite photo-subject for kayakers.

Later in the day, I get on the marine radio and make a call to the Alaska Whale Foundation. I talk with world-renowned humpback whale researcher Dr. Fred Sharpe. He says that he is available to join us for a talk aboard the ship! We meet him in Frederick Sound and he motors over in his small Zodiac. Fred and I have been friends for over 20 years. He answers lots of questions and entertains guests in the lounge with his humor and knowledge.

After just a half-hour, the swells on this inland sea magically disappear and become glass-like. Humpback whales are spotted “around the clock” in all directions from the ships decks. We estimate at least two dozen whales blowing from just a hundred meters to a couple of kilometers away.

Before disembarking, Fred mentions the influx of nutrients and plankton as a result of the persistent winds we had throughout the morning. Frederick Sound is in the middle of a nutrient-rich geographical area. The plankton feed the schooling fish which in turn feed the leviathans.

Friday | June 17  

“I DATED YOUR SISTER!”

This is what I jokingly tell my guests on my 2nd small-boat tour after meeting Tongass National Forest wilderness ranger Solan Jensen.  We could see his food hanging in a tree above his camp adjacent to where we drop off guests for a low-tide circumambulation. Solan greets us and introduces us to fellow ranger Iris Neary. I knew Solans’ name had sounded familiar!  I met his sister back in the mid-90’s in Juneau.  We worked for the Glacier Bay Tours and Cruises (bankrupt since 2006) and I have not had the good fortune to work with her since that bygone era.

 

Aleria now works as the NOAA marine mammal stranding coordinator for the Alaska region.  Her brother Solan is an expert naturalist and is working another year as a kayak ranger.  One of our guests recognized Solan as the naturalist he had on a vacation to the Antarctic region years earlier.  During the northern hemisphere winter (Austral summer), Solan works for Quark Expeditions.  Feels like a small world today!

We tour the biologically diverse tide-pools.  Folks are mesmerized watching the standing waves of the outgoing tide that passes through this narrow part of the fiord.

Later we cruise up to the Dawes Glacier, a tide-water glacier that discharges 1000’s of tons of ice each day during calving events.  Harbor seals “surf” the bergs as they are carried away from the 250-foot wall of ice on the outgoing tide.

Friday | May 13th

KRoth our E.L. wakes us all up at 0600 for an announcement that we have entered Alaska and that Dall Porpoise our riding our bow wave.

It is a spectacular morning with stunning scenery.  We do not have any kayak rangers with the Misty Fjord National Monument come out to greet us.  We go into Rudyerd Bay for some scenic cruising and go past Punchbowl and Owls Cliff and turn around.  Wanted to do our kayak operations but we have to postpone until after lunch and we’ll be doing that in Walker Cove.  I spot the first several Mountain Goats in more than 4 locations today and we spot a healthy black bear in the morning and a brown bear in the afternoon.

I give a geology talk on the top deck and ask Randall my roommate to give a glaciology talk with me.  It is very enjoyable since the day was warm and there was little breeze.  I use props such as different colored boots that represent accreted terrains and how the dock up against other terrains and make the geological story of the Coast Range very complicated.  We have the perfect background for the talk, being in the fjords with snow pack and avalanche gullies.

After lunch we have to cancel the kayak operations since the captain could not find a good anchorage and the winds were blowing a little too much for launching the kayaks from a moving ship platform.  Instead, Kevin the Chief Mate and I have a terrific time naturalizing together (he drove) along the shoreline after a 30-minute close viewing of the grizzly bear digging for clams.  I shot like 200 pictures and now have to do the sad job of deleting and selecting which ones are worth keeping.  I have so much coming back to me after almost a 3 year hiatus from my last time up in Alaska. Put a back of a sea star up against the back of a mans wrist and he feels the pincher organs called pedicillaria. Teach everyone all about the flora and the three different kinds of lichens and weathering (crustose, foliose and fructicose and chemical, biological and physical weathering, respectively).  Incredibly steep walls and lots of snowmelt.  See common mergansers, goldeneyes, raven, nw crow, hear hermit thrush, pigeon guillemot, marbled murrelet, belted kngisher.  Lots of Dall porpoise each time we were about to enter or depart an inlet.  Also had over half-dozen porpoise feeding right alongside two humpback whales at sunset.  Switched one hour back this morning/last nght.  Had antoher dinner outside on the top deck to soak up the scenery along with a staff meeting…usually three meetings a day.