Today was a whale of a day. What started out as a gray day with plenty of liquid sunshine turned into an exhilarating morning when we came upon a dozen or so humpback whales feeding in Frederick Sound. After breakfast (we already had a morning cruise through Red Bluff Bay) we were hoping to find some whales, and did we ever! At first we spotted a lone humpback, then another off to the south moving in the same direction as the first, then another, then another and another. Before long over a dozen humpbacks were feeding on krill and small bait-fish just ahead of us. Initially, some were "flick" feeding while others exhibited lateral lunge feeding. Later, a group of ten whales began to cooperatively bubble-net feed. The sight of ten whales simultaneously bursting out of the water with their mouths agape is awesome indeed. Cameras were clicking all over the ship and we were fortunate enough to capture the individual pictured at left as it rose to the surface not more than forty feet from the bow. To look down into the mouth of a humpback and see the pink of its upper pallet as well as its distended jaw and swollen ventral throat pleats holding thousands of gallons of krill-enriched water was spectacular. You had to be there to fully appreciate what we were seeing and smelling.
Using the ship's digital camera we were also able to capture several excellent shots as each whale went into their terminal dive. Every humpback has a unique pattern on the underside of their tail flukes and so far we have been able to positively identify two of the whales and tentatively identify two more. The others we are still working on and some may even be new to this area. The photographs and information about this sighting will be forwarded to the Alaska Whale Foundation as well as Jan Straley in Sitka (co-author of "Humpback Whales Of Southeastern Alaska") and added to the general pool of knowledge regarding the feeding and behavioral patterns of these gentle giants.
Leaving these whales to continue on our way to Saginaw Bay for an afternoon of hiking and kayaking was difficult. However, the group of whales began to disaffiliate and go back to individual feeding patterns and it seemed best that we disaffiliate ourselves as well. The excitement wasn't quite over though. Just before we left we were treated to several spectacular breaches. Though only our first full day, it was definitely a special one.
