The wind this morning was not as forecast — it gusted to 20 knots as our deck team set the anchor. While the sunshine of the last few days seemed to have left us, the rain stayed away just long enough for our guests to enjoy one last wonderful landing. One group spent a long while exploring the intertidal zone, seeing everything from washed up jellyfish to sessile organisms on the rocks. Yesterday we had the pleasure of witnessing a black bear feasting on the barnacles and mussels of this ecosystem, and it was incredible to take a closer look! The rest of us divided into small groups and ventured into the nearby woods to do what we dubbed “light bushwhacking.” Signs of minks, river otters, squirrels, ravens, and bears were all over the beautiful forest floor. Rodman Bay was once a prominent site for logging the Tongass National Forest; old rusty cables and other remnants dotted the landscape as a reminder of what used to occur in this magical place.
5/13/2025
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National Geographic Venture
Basket Bay
A day of Zodiac cruising in Basket Bay on Chichagof Island brought wild beauty and unforgettable encounters. As the morning mist thinned, we traced the rugged shoreline beneath towering forested cliffs, where ochre sea stars clung to rocks and dense clusters of blue mussels covered the intertidal zone like armor. Bald eagles circled overhead, and a river otter slipped along the kelp-strewn shore. Not long into our cruise, a humpback whale surfaced nearby, vanishing as suddenly as it appeared. Then, the real show began. A pod of five orcas emerged from the north, cutting through the water with smooth, deliberate power. Their tall dorsal fins knifed the surface in silence as we viewed them from a respectful distance, the pod weaving in and out of view among the swells. Onshore, waterfalls thundered from the cliffs, swollen with rain, sending spray across the rocks. The air smelled of salt and cedar. We lingered near one cascade, engines low, taking in the raw energy of water meeting sea. By the time we turned back toward the anchorage, the sky had turned dark and williwaws descended upon us. We were all smiles as memories of our special orca encounter shone brightly.
