Capturing the Moment

My intrepid group of spelunkers Jackie crawling to the underground otter den At the opening to El Cap Cave Sign of loggings past   Everyone knows about the whales, bears, glaciers, and beautiful kayaking of Alaska's Inside Passage. But a little known secret connects its way underground all through Prince of Wales Island. It is a karst cave system that spans across 13,000ft. El Capitan is the longest mapped cave and a National Forest Interpretive Site. This is a great place to see a relatively young cave system with an interesting history. My favorite tree Tackling 370 steps to the cave In the early 1990's a cave explorer found perfectly preserved bones inside a hard to get to room in El Cap Cave. He named the room the Hibernaculum and the scientist that followed were amazed at the condition of a large black bear skeleton, as well as a couple of unusual finds. Brown bear, wolverine, and red fox bones were also found in the Hibernaculum which puzzled t...

 Frederick Sound is a large body of water in Alaska's inside passage which acts as a confluence zone for all the water coming in from Chatham Strait and Stephen's Passage. A lot of nutrients are swept into the area which in turn brings in the plankton, small fish, and eventually the big charismatic mega-fauna. This is why we planned a half day of cruising and looking for wildlife in Frederick Sound.     We woke up to a good sign, not so far off blows of humpbacks. Things really heated up as we left our anchorage and venture out into the sound. Humpbacks could be seen for miles around with their hot, steamy exhalations lingering in the cool Alaskan air.          Then, as hard as it might be to believe, the humpbacks were upstaged. All of a sudden on the horizon a huge dorsal fin emerged out of the water. It was a pod of orcas heading our direction! We stayed with the orcas for a good part of the morning watching them interact with the humpb...

"Glacial Grey"   All season I have been hearing stories about the infamous Baird Glacier. Apparently as recent as two years ago we were able to drop passengers off to go hike up onto the glacial ice. But as the glacier gallops backwards in its retreat, it leaves the terminal moraine buildup with an uncrossable lake between it and the ice.    The first mate on board has been trying to talk me out of schedule excursions at Baird because of the fact that to get people up to the the landing area the small boats have to navigate a flowing glacial river complete with rapids and standing waves. But I was not to be swayed so I used my power to send the ship to Baird glacier on this week's trip.    Hiking to Baird Glacier    Since this was our first time here this season a few of us jumped in a skiff early in the morning to rocket out way up the river and figure our the logistics for the day. We made it to the landing point but just beyond that...

Office with a view    This summer I have started working as expedition leader onboard one of the high-end small cruise ships that Un-Cruise runs in Southeast Alaska, called the Wilderness Explorer. We max out around 74 passengers and have 26 crew comprising of my expedition staff, the deck staff, hotel staff, and the kitchen staff. It is an incredible way to experience this part of Alaska and many other parts of the world as well. All Alone with Sunset Colors     Some stats on the Wilderness Explorer: 74 guests 37 cabins 26 crew members 186 feet in length 38 feet wide Cruising speed of 11 knots Built in 1976; renovated in 2012 Registered in United States 3:1 Guest-to-crew ratio View from the Bridge Bowriding Dolphin   Being on a small boat cruise allows us to get up close to waterfalls, into tight fjords and bays, and through the floating ice fields in front of most tidewater glaciers. Pacific white-sided dolphins and Dall'...

  El Capitan Cave is the largest known cave in Alaska, and is also the first cave in Southeast Alaska where fossil bones were discovered. A wooden stairway has been constructed up the long hillside to the cave (see photo below), and tours are provided for visitors by Tongass National Forest . A gate has been installed in the cave to prevent visitors from falling into pits or being trapped behind a portion of the cave that floods during storms. It is located on Prince of Wales Island.   We stopped here this week after a nail-biting transit of the narrow, shallow Dry Pass. Not many people will take the big boat through this narrow channel leading up to El Cap, but Capt. Dano navigated the pass with expert precision. We could almost reach out and grab leaves off the trees, and to add to the early morning excitement we were getting our first glimpses of playful sea otters swimming along the shorelines. I even had passengers tell me they were seeing sea stars out of...

  After a few weeks of beautiful weather and exciting wildlife encounters its hard to pick out one highlight to write about in my quick time at port. But looking through my recent pictures a clear choice became obvious, glaciers. On each of our trips we spend a day at a tidewater glacier. These are glaciers that flow down the mountain and enter the sea at their face.    Sometimes just getting to the glacier can be the real adventure. Long, narrow, steep fjords showing the glaciers advancement in the past can be clogged with floating ice. Some of these icebergs can be larger than our ship, while others are in their last few days before melting to oblivion. Others show off the intensely pressurized ice inside the glacier in an almost otherworldly blue color.   But if we can make it to the glacier face, the true vastness of the glacier can be known. These glaciers snake their way high up into the snow fields where they are born as a single tiny snowflake. And...