Gull Island, Peterson Bay, and China Poot Bay.

Let me begin this entry by saying "OTTERS!" We went on another trip across the bay yesterday and had our first close encounters with the adorable kind. I've seen several otters splashing around in the bay from afar but yesterday we saw two within jumping distance. They were spinning around and eating off of their bellies and being doggone adorable.

Our destination across the waters was The Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies at Peterson Bay. This is apparently THE place to go for hiking, tide pooling, native archaeological sites, and awesome nature in general.

On the way there we circled Gull Island, a small island known for holding a crazy amount of rare birds.



Unfortunately, the birds were not quite as crazy as usual because this guy below (a teenage eagle) was hanging out.

We still saw these red-faced things that are apparently a once in a lifetime sight.


A puffin.
This group of rocks is called Otter Rocks because it looks so much like an otter on its back floating in the water.
We went on a hike through the mountains in what is apparently a temperate rainforest, which I didn't even know existed. It was an awesome nature overload. I've never been so consistently mesmerized by plants.

Here's some of the crazy fungus. (We were thinking of you the whole time, Ms. Schippers.)

A Venus Fly Trap-style plant.
Design left on tree by the Birch Bark Beetle.


Some trees this beetle destroyed, leaving us a beautiful mountain view.



The photo below is of a "ghost forest". After the Good Friday Earthquake, this circle of earth sank 10 feet and absorbed a ton of salt water from tsunami waves that killed all of the trees while pickling and preserving them from decay.



And, of course, Griffin wanted to document our snacks. This is elk jerky.



And caribou pepperoni.

Then, we went tidepooling at China Poot Bay. This might have been the most amazing thing I've ever done. Starfish, sea cucumbers, anemones, crabs . . . we saw so many amazing things.

Secret Garden-style entry to China Poot.

A chiton.

Sea star eating a chiton. It spit the shell out a moment later.
I took three photos of this, one further away and two of the actual tide pool, to show how the tide pools are just hidden in pools of water under rocks. This one was the most amazing. I strongly suggest double clicking on these photos.






Jellyfish!

Sea stars hold on to rocks with insane force.

This eagle and moose thing has to be addressed. I am certain that we will stop posting photos of moose and eagles after this week because we see them so often. We have seen ten moose since we got here eleven days ago. I can't even tell you how many bald eagles we've seen. There are bald eagles on top of light posts everywhere. As uncharacteristic as it is of me to say, I've never felt so patriotic as when I look up at those majestic creatures.