Today, guests on board National Geographic Venture awoke in the pristine waters of the Great Bear Rainforest. We learned about this rich and diverse island from an expert on these lands: Marven Robinson. Marven and his son Nelson are true locals from a First Nations People. They offered us a unique experience on a platform that Marven built with his own two hands. This platform was designed to view the incredibly rare white color morph black bear – the Spirit Bear! To reach the platform, we went on a half-mile hike through a dense alder forest along an old logging road. Although we did not see a Spirit Bear today, we did spend the day with Marven and Nelson, who shared a wealth of knowledge about their culture and how all people are connected to the beautiful salmon stream to which we hiked today.
9/22/2024
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National Geographic Venture
Green Inlet
Our last day in the Great Bear Rainforest proved to be one full of excitement, education, and awe. After dropping anchor in the idyllic glacial fjord of Green Inlet, we set out to explore the rocky shoreline and forested granitic fjord walls. The dense fog gradually turned into a wispy mist, which exposed different peaks and valleys of the forest as it moved through. We took turns kayaking through a delightful cove that was loaded with ochre sea stars, rockweed, and blue mussels so thick and dense that the rock they were attached to was hardly visible between them. A river otter scurried along the shore and bald eagles soared above us. From the Zodiacs we visited nearly a dozen thunderous waterfalls that were running hard and fast from the heavy overnight rains. We observed harbor seals observing us back; they were quietly periscoping their furry heads up and out of the water as we approached the rapids where they were hunting salmon making their final journeys upriver to spawn. Upon our return to National Geographic Venture , expedition diver Nick Brown shared his extensive underwater video footage from the area. His presentation was interrupted, of course, by whale sightings, which we rushed onto the bow to appreciate.
