This morning we awoke surrounded by the peaceful beauty of Red Bluff Bay, a narrow finger of water that incises the eastern side of Baranof Island. Regal bald eagles perched majestically in Sitka spruce trees. Mountain goats were spotted high on a precipitous mountainside. A Sitka black-tailed deer grazed on the shore. Two brown bears foraged in the meadow at the head of the bay. A sizeable flotilla of harlequin ducks took flight and then regrouped in the shallows. And the sun shone.

Transformed by solar energy from snow into liquid water, a large, lovely waterfall cascaded into the bay. The deep glacier-carved fjord allowed us to approach for a very close view.

Later in the morning, with the assistance of ideal sea and weather conditions, we encountered several humpback whales. Southeast Alaska provides rich winter feeding grounds for this endangered species. Ignoring our vessel, they would spout, surface, arch and dive nearby. One interrupted our lunch with a fantastic show of repeated breaching. With their "great wings" flailing, these forty-ton animals can launch themselves completely out of the water, to our utter amazement and enjoyment. The significance of many of their behaviors is yet a mystery, but it is a treat and a privilege to witness these wild animals in their natural environment.

In the afternoon we had opportunities for walks in the forest and Zodiac cruises along the scenic shoreline of Houghton Bay on the mainland. Continued sunshine permitted vistas of the snow-clad Coast Range to the east. After dinner we watched more humpbacks as the prolonged sunset colored the mountains and sky 360 degrees around us. We rested well after this very fulfilling day.