Location: Secret Bay, Chicagoff Island, southeast Alaska
Comments: Why is he a darned grizzly bear? Because he chose to amble across the beach 150 yards away from the Nautilus Explorer in the middle of my morning briefing. Cheeezzzz, how am I supposed to do a briefing when all the guests are running for their cameras and binoculars?! Anchored up in beautiful and scenic Secret Bay today. I hesitate to publish the topographic name of this bay because (a) it is so beautiful (b) we have had really good luck with grizzly bears here (c) there is an amazing grotto of marble accessible up the stream (d) when the salmon return to this stream, it is a great place to snorkel with them and (e) we have a permit with the good graces of the U.S. Forest Service that allows our guests stroll, walk and hike through the rainforest here.
My only mistake in briefing our guests was in referring to this as a “rainforest” because it was indeed raining. Really raining! More like a deluge actually. We split into 2 groups – hikers and snorkellers – and things didn’t go quite according to plan. We had an extremely low tide this morning (-1.3 feet on a 23 foot exchange) which made it impossible to take guests up to the marble grotto by inflatable. Everybody had to go overland instead. The very heavy rain and extreme low tide made for a very fast flowing stream and less than ideal conditions for snorkelling. The really awesome thing about the guests on this trip is that everyone was a really good sport about the “challenges” and were laughing and smiling and making jokes afterwards about what a great time they had. We’re off to dive Baranof Island this afternoon and then on to the natural hot springs tonight. Cheers from Alaska.
–Captain Mike
Weather: Heavy rain, overcast, calm winds and seas, air temperatures in the low 50’s. Very unseasonable weather for July.
Water: Water temperature and visibility unknown.
