Kiska Island - Sirius Point, June 28
June 28, 2006
This morning I awoke to the most beautiful sunrise and calm seas signaling a great day was ahead. A few miles later, the ship was socked into the fog. We anchored just off of Kiska Island at Sirius Point to look for three different species of auklets. Since the weather was calm, and we couldn’t see anything from the ship, we decided to launch the zodiacs for an impromptu zodiac cruise. The cruise was fantastic. The shoreline was all cliffs and with the fog, it was almost surreal. Every now and then, we’d get a glance of a waterfall or the brilliant orange-red of the beak of an oystercatcher sitting on a rock. Since the goal of the morning was to see auklets, we headed up the shore about one mile. As we came to the point, the fog cleared and we were able to see thousands upon thousands of auklets on the water and in the air all around the point. They were just swirling around. At one point, our zodiac was positioned in such a way that the birds were flying behind us and were just parting to go around us - we were totally surrounded. It was something I had never experienced before. I will attach a photo if one does any justice to the scene. In addition, the Kiska volcano was visible, and, of course, beautiful.
Zodiac cruising in the fog - note the "naturalist pose" as I point out a Peregrine Falcon (photo credit: Mason Florence)
Stefan's zodiac crusing amongst thousands of auklettes.
This morning I awoke to the most beautiful sunrise and calm seas signaling a great day was ahead. A few miles later, the ship was socked into the fog. We anchored just off of Kiska Island at Sirius Point to look for three different species of auklets. Since the weather was calm, and we couldn’t see anything from the ship, we decided to launch the zodiacs for an impromptu zodiac cruise. The cruise was fantastic. The shoreline was all cliffs and with the fog, it was almost surreal. Every now and then, we’d get a glance of a waterfall or the brilliant orange-red of the beak of an oystercatcher sitting on a rock. Since the goal of the morning was to see auklets, we headed up the shore about one mile. As we came to the point, the fog cleared and we were able to see thousands upon thousands of auklets on the water and in the air all around the point. They were just swirling around. At one point, our zodiac was positioned in such a way that the birds were flying behind us and were just parting to go around us - we were totally surrounded. It was something I had never experienced before. I will attach a photo if one does any justice to the scene. In addition, the Kiska volcano was visible, and, of course, beautiful.
Zodiac cruising in the fog - note the "naturalist pose" as I point out a Peregrine Falcon (photo credit: Mason Florence)
Stefan's zodiac crusing amongst thousands of auklettes.
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