Exploratory Beach Combing at Mueller Cove, Alaska

There are a lot of adventures on these UnCruise expedition cruises in Alaska. But even though everyday, activities like bushwhacks, kayaking, and hiking are offered, there are always more laid back options that are offered as well. Today we explored the rainforest fringed cove named Mueller Bay. One group bushwhacked their way into the forest and muskegs, another took off outbay in the skiff to explore, and a third group came with me to do some beachcombing.

With tidal ranges of around 15ft, there can be a lot uncovered at low tide. Our shore walk started at the back of the bay. The tide was dropping as we explored, exposing more and more of the rocky shoreline. Most of the rocks near the water were covered in mussels and barnacles. The group loved flipping over rocks to find more hidden treasures. I made sure to put the rocks back in place after, since some of the animals underneath needed that extra protection to survive until the tide came back in and covered them up again.

One of my favorite finds was found under a rock. It looked like an eel, wiggling around. Someone asked, 'is that a leech?' But I knew what it was. It was called a crescent gunnel, an extended fish similar looking to an eel, but slightly different. They are often found in the intertidal, and have a way to survive in just the slightest water under rocks.

A crescent gunnel

We poked our heads into the forest just to see all the moss and flowers. The whole idea of the shorewalk was actually from one of our guests, Linda. When I meet the guests at the very beginning of the trip, I always ask them to let me know what they are interested in. She enquired about having a chance to just explore the beach and 'wala', I was able to make it happen. It is one of the cool things about these small ship expeditions. I can tailor make each one according to the guests that week. This has been another spectacular week here in Prince William Sound.

A beautiful cockle shell, found on our beachcomb.

The rocks were covered in blue mussels. Looks tasty.

The first shy maiden flowers I've seen up here.

Several jellyfish were left stranded on the rocks by the tide.

Water streamed out of the rainforest in several places along our walk.

Walking past large rocks at the shoreline with little pocket-forest on top.

It is nice to explore the area in different ways. Doing a shorewalk can help uncover the small things that you only see when you slow down and look.

A small forest growing out of a downed tree. We call these 'nurse logs'.

Check out the location of Mueller Bay on worldmappin's interactive blog map: [//]:# (!worldmappin 60.88860 lat -147.62949 long Mueller cove d3scr)

And as always, keep traveling!
Dai Mar