Mother Goose Leg 2, Day 1 – Ketchikan to Naha Bay

A beautiful, calm Ketchikan morning greeted us on the first day of our newest adventure. Everyone was eager to cast off and begin our excursion into the wilderness, so we cruised out of the harbor at 8 am and began our journey to the Misty Fjords National Monument. We turned right and headed up Tongass Narrows, moving through one last traffic jam of cruise ships and float planes before leaving the outskirts of town and the cares of the civilized world behind. About 10 miles north of Ketchikan, we passed Totem Bight Historical Park, which houses a beautiful and ornate replica of a Tlingit long house as well as a collection of impressive totem poles. These artifacts stand on the site of a summer fishing village utilized by the native people before the arrival of the European colonists. The towering totem poles stood a solemn watch on the grassy hillside as we cruised slowly past.
Shortly after passing Totem Bight, we left the Tongass Narrows and headed inland, up Behm Canal. The waters were flat calm, the sky was a pleasant high overcast, and the air was comfortably warm. The fleet wove through a series of small islands, keeping Revillagigedo Island to our right, as we would be doing for the next week. After only a few hours of cruising up the beautiful Behm Canal we turned into Naha Bay, our destination for the night. Mystic Eagle was able to tie up to the small dock near the head of the bay, and Navigator rafted along her port side. Deception and Inside Passage rafted together farther out in the bay.
After taking an hour or two for lunch, our naturalist Casey led a walk from the head of the dock up onto a boardwalk than runs along the shore of the nearby Roosevelt Lagoon. This peaceful lagoon is home to an abundance of wildlife including black bears, moose, beaver, mink, and rare trumpeter swans. Our cheerful chatter likely scared many of these animals away, but we still enjoyed the peaceful beauty of the temperate rainforest. Along the way, we saw where bears had dug up the roots of skunk cabbage, one of their favorite foods in the early summer before the bulk of the berries ripen. We also saw signs of Sitka black-tailed deer and found some of the first ripe blueberries and salmonberries.
When we returned from the walk, everyone piled into their dinghies to check out the lagoon from the water. To enter Roosevelt Lagoon, your entry must be timed perfectly with the tide. Enter on too low a tide, and you will find a 4 foot vertical difference between the lagoon and the bay, with a waterfall raging down the rapids. Linger too long after the high tide and the same rapids will trap you inside the lagoon. Once inside, we followed the water’s edge, looking for wildlife and taking in the beautiful scenery. Before long, we had spotted the first black bear of the trip, standing in a grassy patch on the shoreline, munching away at the vegetation. The wind was blowing in our faces, carrying our scent and the noise of our motors away from the animal. We were able to get quite close, offering us an incredible look at this animal in its natural setting.
Finally, our thirst for adventure quenched, we returned to the boats. Everyone came over to Deception at 7 for appetizers, cocktails, and a delicious salmon feast. After dinner, with full bellies and light hearts, we went back ashore for a bonfire. Near the small dock, there was a shelter with a fire pit. After a few attempts, we were able to coax a great campfire out of some wet wood we found nearby. As the fire blazed, we shared stories, jokes and tips on cooking the perfect s’more (for the record, Bud Gould is the reigning grandmaster of s’more making). As the moon set, we made our way back to the boats and retired after our long and busy day.