Today we awoke before sunrise and made our way onto the buses that would take us up to the small community of Old Masset on the northern end of Haida Gwaii. Our group took turns visiting two incredibly important Haida artists, Jim Hart and Christian White. Jim welcomed us into his home and workshop to share his projects, enrapturing us with his stories along the way. At Christian’s we learned about the totem poles he raised out front, and then he brought us to his carving shed where he was working on a new totem pole and a canoe. The previous canoes he’s carved hung on the walls behind him, telling the story of Haida past and present. We were welcomed back into the longhouse for a traditional Haida lunch, including venison stew, smoked sockeye salmon, pickled sea asparagus, and other wonderful treats. Christian and his family and friends performed several songs and dances for us, which we were so honored to witness. Before heading back to the ship, we were able to stop in some local stores and support Haida artists in the area. A truly special day here in Haida Gwaii!
5/10/2025
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National Geographic Sea Bird
Tracy Arm
As we continued our way north through Alaska, we had a favorite stop of mine in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness. We had a rainy day, which I enjoy because we can see at higher elevations since the rain turns to snow and, in turn, the snow feeds the absorption zone of the Sawyer Glaciers. We went out in the Zodiacs and navigated around the icebergs and bergy bits, even collecting a piece for the ice melt-off challenge. Once underway out of Tracy Arm, we saw some humpback whales. One whale had an entanglement of line on its fluke. The line was causing an obvious cut to the marine mammal. The correct authorities were notified about the condition of the whale and location of the sighting. Hopefully the whale will be assisted soon and the entanglement removed. Several other humpbacks were seen shortly after, luckily no entanglements on these. They were demonstrating surface feeding behavior, with one lunge feeding and the other making bubbles to catch its prey.