Alaska Day 11: Safari Explorer

 

Day 11: Safari Explorer

Weather Report: Overcast most of the day, temps in the 50s, maybe low 60

Quote of the Day: Wait, is that a Safari Explorer sister ship?

It’s a Covid world: between the wackamole walk in the morning and the skiff ride in the afternoon we see almost no wildlife. But wait…there’s more

This pic is by another cruiser. THB is just to right of her taking pics as well

Pics of wildlife and bird spotted lists, updated daily on the next day. Generally THB has seen about 50% of the lists. 

Usual wake-up, half a honey bagel with the cappuccino and “veggie” and honey cream cheese (both odd). Go to the bridge for a minute and just ahead and coming towards us is one of the Explorer’s sister ships, the Legacy, on its way from Juneau to Sitka (the reverse of our cruise). Hey, those people waving at us are 5 of our Denali excursion compatriots. We wave back…ships passing in the early morning (just kidding, nobody it outside on either boat at this early hour).

THB and DB channel their internal wacko-commando style and take another bushwhacking walk. This one is easier than the one two days ago, we stay closer to EL and thus hear everything he says, and the group does a much better job of staying close. The only wildlife we see is a spotted banana slug (not yellow). Near the end of the hike, THB calls for a water break and thus the whole group waits 10 minutes or so while THB and DB rehydrate.

A from Baltimore channeling her inner bushwhacking meditations

EL taking pic; it turns out the shot is of a waterfall on the river...who knew?

Lunch is an excellent Greek salad with either chicken or falafel (DB – chicken, THB – falafel) and pita bread. Chocolate mousse for dessert.

 

Almost 2-hour skiff ride in afternoon. Again, we spot almost no wildlife. Two bears in different small coves; both see us a long way off and scoot into the underbrush and trees before we can get close enough to count the nails or see their noses. Both are Brown Bears because there are no Black Bears on these islands. One Bald Eagle. One black-tailed deer.  A few seagulls. One kayak stuck in the shallows.

Bald eagle

Black Tailed deer

THB

One kayaking team gets stuck and inadvertently holds a paddle straight up in the air. Not bad enough to attract attention, the straight up paddle is a sign of distress...or in this case, of embarrassment

Then, in the midst of happy hour in the lounge, there’s an announcement of whale sightings in front of the ship. Not exactly. There are whales, we can see the spumes, they are way ahead and to the side of the ship. Then, in very close to the ship, there’s a pod of killer whales, aka orcas. They aren’t whales, they are porpoises (or is it dolphins?). Appears to be five with one male (the males has a large fin on the top). The captain idles the boat to less than 5 mph and the orcas stay just level with us. After about 20 minutes, things change and the orcas now migrate to just behind the boat. THB and DB are on the move, the only other people at the back of the boat are crew members. Damn, THB’s pics are looking a lot better. Clearly the highlight of the cruise so far, nosing out the dead partially eaten bear on the first bushwhack.

Probably a male orca, they have the biggest fins

Fluke slap