Day 10, Cruising

Today has been a lazy, relaxing day.  We slept till 9!  After a nice hot shower, we headed down in search of hot coffee.  We are on day one of our cruise down Canada’s Inside Passage heading to Vancouver.  Our day will be full of optional discussions and a visit by a Tlingit native who will share more about this native culture.

The First Nations (Canadian native people) people explored these picturesque waters in hand-carved cedar canoes.  As we journey through the narrow maze of channels, passages and reaches, we hope we too will see wildlife and magical scenery. Perhaps we might even see a Spirit Bear.  What is that?  The Spirit bear is a Kermode bear that is a subspecies of the American Black Bear and lives in the Central and North Coast regions of British Columbia, Canada. While most Kermode bears are black, between 100 and 500 fully white individuals exist. The white genetic variant is known as spirit bear, and is most common on three islands in British Columbia (Gribbell, Princess Royal, and Roderick), where they make up 10–20% of the Kermode population. Spirit bears hold a prominent place in the oral traditions of the indigenous Peoples of the area.

The scenery has been relaxing and beautiful.  The surrounding hills and mountains are covered with green of all shades.  The trees are thick, old growth forest.  Along the way, waterfalls cascade down and flow into the water.  It is both peaceful and relaxing.

At one point, I went out to take a picture of a waterfall.  As I stood at the platform, one of the expedition personnel shouted, “whale”!  I rush to her side to see the familiar humpback roll through and down into the cold water.  At about that time, she pointed and said “Orcas”!  Sure enough, I spotted three Orcas rolling through the water.  Granted, I only saw the dorsal fin but no matter, I saw the Orcas.  Wow, now that was a treat!

While it is good to just relax; it is also sad to know that all too soon our adventure will end.  It has been truly a trip we will not soon forget.  Alaska calls to me, beckoning me to return.  I so hope we will be able to come back in our fifth wheel again next year.  I know that we will be back in February to see the aurora, but I want to see other places and other things like the Kodiak Island.  But, we shall see.  If not, I will never forget this special place, our Alaska.  The moon rose over the water and in the distance another vessel was sailing into adventure.  I hope their's is half as good as ours.