Soon after awakening at anchorage #6 on May 30, 2025, we were treated to the sight of a black bear prowling along the shoreline, no doubt looking for something to eat for breakfast. (Click on any image to enlarge.)
Then the Island Solitude sailed to the Watchmen site of G̱andll K’in Gwaay.yaay, also known as Hotspring Island, not so far away.
It was low tide when the zodiacs deposited us upon the beach.
Yep, this was the right spot.
We hiked past an even rockier beach.
An ocean-flensed root mass.
What a tiny crab!
Some of our troop headed directly for the hot spring, while a posse of others, including Joan and me, explored more of the area first. The tide was still out.
The Watchmen cabin is just above the hot spring.
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| And cute too! |
There's a bathhouse also fed by the springs, where visitors are asked to wash before entering the pool.
The Haida Gwaii archipelago experiences intermittent earthquakes; in 2012, a magnitude 7.8 quake centered on Moresby Island caused this spring to dry up, but it resumed flow in 2015, albeit at a lower rate. The spring feeds this pool; several of our group indulged.
Then it was time to sail on. We encountered eagles camped on rocks,
possibly resting up from what is called a "tornado" of eagles hunting over water. My next photo hints at this formation; a tornado has many more eagles, and at a much higher altitude.
The best photo of an individual eagle on the wing that I could manage:
We reached a secluded bay for anchorage #7 in time for a shore expedition. This photo looks back at the Island Solitude as we headed out.
Our destination is a small bay beyond the anchorage, reached by a narrow channel invisible in this photo.
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| Nobody wanted their picture taken. |
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| Click on any image to enlarge. |
A browsing deer in the grassy patch. A boy -- check out those antler nubbins.
Eddy, our NatHab guide, fastened the zodiac securely near the stream feeding the bay. We didn't want that to float away!
Some of the densest and wettest forest we'd seen.
The stump of a tree harvested long ago.
This is a "bear tree." The ursine critters use them to communicate: scent from specialized glands is rubbed onto the bark, conveying info such as a bear’s
identity, gender, and reproductive status; the height of claw marks indicates the bear's size. Male bears frequently mark
trees during the breeding season. Note the missing moss on the lower trunk from all that rubbing.
We edged closer to the creek bank for a peek upstream, a good location for bear spotting, and waited a while, but nobody showed up.
Later, back aboard the boat, Eddy led us in a review of our voyage so far.
He's also been keeping a species list, prompting us to add any new entries every day.
Tomorrow will also be full, including our fifth and final Watchmen visit.
