On July 5 we took the Sitka Conservation Society cruise to Frosty Reef. A very low tide happened at a convenient time (10 AM) on a Sunday so the Society took us out to look at the reef to see things that normally would be covered by water. The day was beautiful and we enjoyed both the scenery and the creatures in the zone.
One sad note was the decimation of the Sea Star population. A year ago we would have seen hundreds of sea stars. Today we saw only a few live ones. Sea Star wasting disease swept through the area. While we saw a few intact sea stars most of them had disintegrated. We saw stray arms and little piles of sea star parts. The last five pictures in this gallery show what they can look like and what is happening now.