On to explore Alaska with Un-Cruise Adventures, a small-ship company that stamps a capital A on activities. Wilderness Discoverer left Juneau on a rainy August afternoon and docked in Sitka one week later. Except for a stop at Glacier Bay National Park, we were out there beyond towns, people, and wifi service. On rainy days, and that meant most days, the A’s put on their REI rain gear and took off to kayak, bushwhack, paddle board, explore, and skiff the shorelines. On the last day, 18 passengers put on bathing suits and took the Polar Plunge into dark, cold water.
Excursions took us to desolate islands and inlets. We watched brown bears catch salmon and whales take a breath of air. Mussels, barnacles, crabs, and all sorts of sea creatures met us on shore walks. Our one fun salty, edible was pickle grass that grew above the high tide mark. (I’ve since learned that pickle grass also grows in Death Valley.) Into the forest primeval of Emmons Island we walked – a thicket where trees, moss, vines, insects, and pesky mosquitoes live in harmony.
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