Cruising through the beautiful combined ancestral lands of the Laxyuubm Ts’msyen, Kitsumkalum, and Gitga’at Lax Yuup Peoples on board National Geographic Venture has already provided some breathtaking sights. Our morning consisted of anchoring to explore the surrounding bay and inlets from kayaks and on Zodiac cruises. Experiencing the coastline from the water allowed us to get an up-close look at wonderful intertidal organisms like the Pisaster sea star and various algae. We spent the afternoon cruising and searching for wildlife, and fortunately, we were not disappointed. At one point, it felt like the ship was surrounded by humpback whales, and a Steller sea lion was seen swimming across the bow. Of course, the iconic landscape of British Columbia’s prolific temperate rainforest was not to be outdone, and a rainbow broke through the cloudy skies. What a day aboard National Geographic Venture.
9/22/2024
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National Geographic Venture
Green Inlet
Our last day in the Great Bear Rainforest proved to be one full of excitement, education, and awe. After dropping anchor in the idyllic glacial fjord of Green Inlet, we set out to explore the rocky shoreline and forested granitic fjord walls. The dense fog gradually turned into a wispy mist, which exposed different peaks and valleys of the forest as it moved through. We took turns kayaking through a delightful cove that was loaded with ochre sea stars, rockweed, and blue mussels so thick and dense that the rock they were attached to was hardly visible between them. A river otter scurried along the shore and bald eagles soared above us. From the Zodiacs we visited nearly a dozen thunderous waterfalls that were running hard and fast from the heavy overnight rains. We observed harbor seals observing us back; they were quietly periscoping their furry heads up and out of the water as we approached the rapids where they were hunting salmon making their final journeys upriver to spawn. Upon our return to National Geographic Venture , expedition diver Nick Brown shared his extensive underwater video footage from the area. His presentation was interrupted, of course, by whale sightings, which we rushed onto the bow to appreciate.
