Ketchikan - zodiac tour

Besides getting a hair cut, the main thing I did today was take a zodiac boat tour from the harbor. The crew was great & especially knowledgeable about the marine wildlife. It was fairly rainy, but our rain suits kept us quite dry.

                                        

The type of lichen growing on this tree is an indication that the air here is very pure.


They went to great lengths to make sure we saw everything possible, even risking a very cold swim to bring a sea star on board. 



This eagle's nest has a large juvenile on the right side of it. We saw a number of harbor seals, but all of the others were in the water, since it was high tide.


The scenery around Ketchikan is just lovely. 


There's an invasive species of green crab here now, & AK Fish & Wildlife have set out traps to monitor their populations. Our crew empties one of their traps each day while out on their tour. There weren't any green crabs in the trap (good!), but there was a cool fish, a many-legged sea star, & a couple of shrimp.   



We watched a humpback whale for about 20 minutes. It would spout & then surface, but it didn't do a spectacular dive for us. None of my pics were any good.

On the way back in, we saw man-made things including a cruise ship, the petroleum storage facility, & the 2 huge salmon canneries.   






*   *   *   *   *

Wildlife sightings (not counting those in the conservation preserve or the aquarium)

--> --> today:   1 humpback whale       1 Sitka deer        ~ 12 harbor seals

                        8 eagles                many sea birds

--> --> trip total so far: 

    black bears - 25        deer - 14 (12 Sitka)             grizzlies - 1          moose - 8

    stone sheep - 8        elk - 1                   caribou - 15            bison - 42    

    Dall sheep - 11        porcupines -1         mountain goats - 1       lynx - 1

    trumpeter swans - 32+        many bald eagles    black oyster catcher - 1 (rare)

    sea otters - 27             harbor seals - many, many         orcas - 1

    many sea stars & jelly fish        Dall's porpoise - ~ 20

    North Pacific Humpback whales - 2 pods of ~ 12 each + 1 + 1

    Stellar's sea lions - many, 100+ incl 60 pups in 1 spot (counted by scientists)

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