If the Kenai Fjords had us craning our necks up to look at the sharp icy peaks and down to gaze into the endless depths below us, Prince William Sound gave us the opportunity to explore the world within arm’s reach. We walked along rocky shores, explored tidepools on intertidal islands, and walked through countless moist meadows looking at the tiny bits of beauty at our fingertips and toe-tips.
Tidepools and Beaches:
Our 5-year-old marine biologist, Andy, informed us that this is a Mermaid’s Purse, a shark’s egg sac. This was news to us, but we did confirm that this is indeed what it is – and we saw quite of few of them on various beaches. This mermaid’s purse, we later learned, is likely to be from a skate ray, which is a member of the shark family.We saw lots of purple and orange ochre sea stars; this one with white bumps was particularly beautiful.We never figured out what this animal was, but it was big and very cool.A moon jelly washed up on the beach.I had mistakenly (and illogically) thought our days of finding animal skeletons on beaches had ended in Mexico, but we found plenty of interesting bones littering the beaches of Prince William Sound. We found this mountain goat skull and many of its other bones on a beach on Squire Island.On the edge of a lake on Naked Island, the kids grabbed the opportunity to make a witch’s brew soup, with every possible type of plant they could find (the more rotted and slimy the better). And they stirred it up with an otter’s leg bone.
A Walk Through a Meadow:
The islands of Prince William Sound were dotted intermittently with dense shrubs, soggy meadows, bogs, and rocky outcrops. At first glance, everything looks to be a monochrome greenish-brown, but a closer examination reveals so much color and diversity of flora!
When we approached one of our first huge meadows on Glacier Island, Andy – who has recently been married to his tablet, which has worried me to no end – exclaimed with awe: “Look, an open field!” and went bounding into it. I guess all the screen time recently hasn’t damaged him too much if he can still feel the thrill and excitement of an open field. Mom guilt assuaged for now.
Dylan found delight and joy in getting his feet and boots stuck in the mud. (And we found delight and joy in having great mud and a reasonable depth to anchor in after the the deep and rocky anchoring difficulties in the Kenai Fjords!)
Shoreside Life:
Life ashore was somewhat easier to manage in Prince William Sound than in the Kenai Fjords, but we did see bears almost everywhere, so a lot of our shore time was spent on islands instead of the mainland. Still, we made the most of the beautiful terrain around us.
Dylan built and started his own fire for the first time. We fed and enjoyed it for a while until the tide came up and naturally put it out and pulled the charred kindling out to sea.We had picnic dinners ashore a few times, roasting sausages and zucchini over our tiny portable bbq. The trick was finding a flat spot out of the wind that the tide wouldn’t take over and that wasn’t full of mosquitoes or bears. Not an easy task, but we made it work.We had erroneously thought we’d be able to do more hiking in Prince William Sound, but our first hike in Puffin Cove saw us encountering a black bear not five minutes into our walk. This curious guy wasn’t scared off by our noise and instead perked up his ears and started walking toward us. So, we turned back, untied Tinker and grudgingly found a small island with no bears to explore instead. Panning for gold on Naked IslandThe mouths of the streams were boiling with fish, so Tom set out with his pole and Dylan with his net to see if they could catch any (they didn’t).
Other Animal Sightings:
Those these pictures aren’t great and can hardly do these beautiful animals justice, they represent some of the other wildlife we saw on a regular basis and that symbolize the richness of life we were surrounded by.
We weren’t the only ones enjoying some shore time. Seals sunning themselves on the rocks were enjoying themselves, too.We saw so many mama and baby otter couples! The mamas were often teaching the little ones how to swim, but sometimes the overgrown toddlers could still be seen resting upon mama’s belly, practically sinking her with their weight and length. And since otters can be born at any time of year, we also got to see plenty of mamas with their newborn super-fluffy babies floating on their mama’s bellies.It was from a distance, but we got to see a mama brown bear teaching her cub to fish at the mouth of a salmon stream. The cub is hard to see, but is the darker blob to the left of the mother bear.Oystercatchers with bright red beaksA lionsmane jellyfish, with a small fish hanging out right on top of it. We saw this odd combination quite often and wondered if the fish might be using the jellyfish as protection.
Next up: Our “urban” experiences in two of Prince William Sound’s towns, Cordova and Valdez and the psychological toll of injuries, waiting, and homesickness.
2 thoughts on “Prince William Sound: The Beauty Under Our Feet”
Bill & I are loving the photos & the stories too. Dylan & Andy are truly enriched by The the experiences & by your parenting skills.
Prayers are for your safe journey back to Anacortes,
Thanks, Nikki! Glad you’re enjoying the pictures and the stories. We’re excited to be headed home in a couple days! Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.
Bill & I are loving the photos & the stories too. Dylan & Andy are truly enriched by The the experiences & by your parenting skills.
Prayers are for your safe journey back to Anacortes,
Thanks, Nikki! Glad you’re enjoying the pictures and the stories. We’re excited to be headed home in a couple days! Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.