Today we were introduced to a couple of the crew’s favorite stops (helping to make up for the extra day in Juneau). If you search for more information on these stops on the Internet, you will probably not find much. These locations were definitely not on the normal tourist top hits but they were very much worth it.

Our first stop was in Hanus Bay where some of us took a crack at bushwhacking again. As usual, a case for rain boots and wet weather gear. While it wasn’t actually raining during this on-shore period, it was wet everywhere. But all the better for the variety of fungi, pools of water, and interesting water flowers. With all our climbing around we even came across a small animal’s skeleton looking like it had not moved since it had died. Where a stream ran back into the Bay, there was an open grassland/wetland where we found many remains of salmon which bears had enjoyed in the past.

Our ship headed further along and stopped next in Rodman Bay. Some of us took out in our kayaks from our ship. It was raining so again raingear was called for. As usual, I had my good camera with a longer lens with me which I was able to keep mostly dry in between shots. You will see a few photos taken from my kayak on this page with a northern sea otter keeping tabs on us as we went by. As usual, the shorelines were littered with a wide variety of birds who called to us through the rain.

The best wildlife, thinking back on the entire trip, was my kayak partner (and the others in our group). Smiling away, we headed back to our ship to dry off and enjoy another great meal.

In case you are interested, it was fun and easy to get our kayaks back on board. You simply aimed the front of your kayak at the ship’s launch rack and paddled hard, pushing the kayak partway onto the ramp at which time a crew member grabbed the front rope and pulled us the rest of the way on. It is also OK to look clumsy when climbing out of your kayak. After all, sitting in a cramped space for several hours and then climbing out of it onto a sloped surface - fun! The crew was always there to assist when needed.