We awoke to a beautiful sunny day as we said our final farewells to Ann, Sebastian, Tristan and Bo on Arctic Star.  Bo was awarded a NW Explorations knit cap for his photo content entry of “people in nature”. He immediately put the hat on and gave us his beguiling smile that reminded us of how much we would miss him.

Cassey, the Meyers Chuck Post-master, motored over from her house with the warm fresh baked cinnamon rolls, as promised, and everyone was thrilled to have them for breakfast. After a leisurely morning, we all untied and started on our way to Naha Bay, only three hours away. Flat calm conditions again today through Clover Passage where we spotted another few Dall’s porpoise but none accepted our invitation to play in our bow wake.

As we made our way into Naha, we finally spotted the wooden dock far inside the protected inlet. The dock was small so Deception and Navigator tied to the dock and Thea rafted to Deception. The forest service boat was also on the dock and before long, two forest service men walked out of the woods and down the ramp.  They were both very friendly and had been clearing the trail.  They encouraged us to hike over to the lagoon, a short quarter-mile hike.

Immediately Sydney and Meg ventured out on the kayaks with Ted and Pat not far behind them. Cheryl, Rick, Chris and Jane decided to go for a hike to the lagoon through the forest where we found well maintained trails lined with massive spruce trees and boardwalks.  While hiking, Meg and Sydney paddled over to chat.  They had ventured into the lagoon through the narrow inlet but, had utilized the portage to get their kayaks past the rapids in the narrow entrance.  They had a short delay as they had to wait for a young black bear to abandon the portage first. Normally reserved, Meg exclaimed that she had never spoken so much and so loudly as she had while portaging their kayaks through bear territory!  The lagoon was large with a combination of wooded banks, rocky banks and sedge grass banks and a few loons and harbor seals.

We all gathered for a nice social hour on the dock and then got cozy on Deception where we presented the winners of the photo contest while simultaneously viewing the entry photos. Pauline won “the nature of people” category with her photo of Mike and Ted taking cell phone picture in opposite directions while donning their COVID masks. Rick won best “nature” photo with his outstanding entry photo of an eagle in flight. Many other photos were submitted with honorable mention and ALL were included in the slideshow of our NW Explorations cruising adventures that we all viewed together and laughed and said “Awwww” every time a picture of Bo came up.

Later there was dinner and more kayaking adventures. The day closed with a beautiful almost-full moon to make the evening perfect!