a photo finish to training week 2

View down the Indian River

Sitka has been blessed with another impeccable week of sunshine to augment the final push in training. Temperatures soared into the upper-60s, which made for some perfect outdoor sessions to learn about the rainforest, salmon runs, and the Battle of 1804 among other topics. The schedule was jam packed with workshops, but I still feel fairly unequipped to face the impending dump of cruise ship tourists we're about to receive on Tuesday.

A Whale of a Time

It started with a report on the local radio station: "Whales sighted just offshore, east beach."

"Wanna go look for whales??" My supervisor asked, as she came out of her office, pulling on a jacket and grabbing the car keys. 

"Chyeah!"

Half of Nome turned out to watch

Yesterday a weasel, today a whale

This morning one of our interpretive rangers came back from teaching the weekly Tundra Tots program and announced they had stumbled across something very interesting on the beach.

"A seal?" someone guessed.

Nope.

"A walrus?"

"Bigger," he he said.

"A WHALE?"