April 24th-Day 25

Today was an early start at 8:30am, due to the start of Guide Training Week! Whoop Whoop! The first training session lasted three hours or so and was basically house keeping information. Between the first session and second session we had a small lunch break, but as a surprise people brought in brownie cookies and cupcakes! The cupcakes were made by Katie(Owner’s daughter) and each cupcake had a different whale fluke based on a real life whale. I ended up picking the whale Spot, and he was delicious. I also forgot to mention that I got my Gastineau Gear today, so expect some pictures in the future with my gear. Before the start of the next session, Cam and I did a quick pre-trip for the bus, so that I was ready for tomorrow's test. 

For the second part of the day we got to go on an actual tour that our guests would be going on, specifically the whales and trails tour which includes a hike and whale watching excursion. Our tour guide was Jodi and she did a great job, she had a bunch of energy and spark to her tour, she also was very fast for her age. Like the woman was leaving us new tour guides in her dust! The trail we went on happened to be the same one the Ranger’s took my family and I three weeks ago, but boy has it changed since then. There was an actual trail instead of around a foot of snow, and the forest has started to develop its different shades of green. She started off going over MASH( its an ecological succession acronym) and asked the question to the group “Do we have any lichenologist here?” Everyone in the group chuckled a little and looked or pointed to me, so I shyly raised my hand. After that we hit it off and we kept talking and discussing the different lichens, moss, and plants in general. While on the trail we got to see my favorite lichen species, British Soldier lichen, it has a distinct red fruiting body and its cap is vibrant red! After returning back to the bus we headed over to Auke bay to hop on a boat and see whales.

By now I was tired, but excited to go out and see my first whales up close and personal. Getting out to the bay took around 45 minutes, so the boat was brimming with anticipation. I could tell everyone was listening to the captain speak to others on the radio, because it got silent and everyone was looking out the window. Finally a whale was spotted and following NOAA’s guidelines we got to move around the boat and try to catch a peek of a whale. My first whale ended up being a Humpback, but they never showed us their fluke(tail fin) so we were unable to identify it. I was excited and tried taking pictures, but alas my iPhone couldn't get a great video of it. We watched the whale for an hour or so and then we headed to check out some Steller’s sea lions. On the way back I was for sure nodding off, and ready to head home.


By the time we got back into the car I was ready to go to bed. I quickly made dinner and then did my routine of finishing the day with a movie with Cass. Between eating and watching a movie, it also started to snow hard. I have never seen such thick snow, it looked like dollops of whipped cream falling from the sky and beautiful is an understatement.  We were able to watch two out of three of Disney's Descendants and have a girls night together. Then we headed to bed and got ready for another early start tomorrow.

The whale cupcakes Katie made for us as well as the brownie cookies. This fluke is based on Spot the whale!

Jodie next to a glacial erratic or boulder.

(Front to Back) Me, Madison, Parker, Cass, Adam, Hannah on the trail.

British solider lichen, the red parts are the fruiting body 

(L→R) Kelsey, Karina, Zane, Adam, Madison on the boat

Cass and I hiding inside the boat due to sleet and hail

Showing off some of the gear I got, specifically my hat!

(L→R) Kelsey, Karina, and I inside the boat. I forgot to mention that Karina got here yesterday from Northern California.

This is a picture of the Humpback whale surfacing. 

Three Steller's Seas on a buoy.  

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