Southeast Alaska
What an incredible day—seems like a week passed in the last 12 hours. We began before breakfast with an early wake-up call to alert us to a group of humpback whales cruising along the shore off Point Adolphus. The Captain maneuvered the ship very skillfully for the next hour while we watched in awe as the group of 8-10 whales surfaced all around us. They would stay in one area for a while, apparently feeding, and then move off a mile or so to a new feeding ground. Two of the whales made hooting and horn-like sounds as they blew out their lungful of air at the surface. There was one youngster among this group of adults and this little one tended to keep its distance, almost as if told not to speak to adults until spoken to. The calf, no doubt born in Hawaii, had made the month long journey to Southeast Alaska alongside his mother and will continue to nurse until weaned within the next few months. The calf breached a few times quite near to the ship to the great enjoyment of all of us aboard the good ship Sea Lion.
After breakfast we headed into Idaho inlet in hopes of finding some sea otters and sure enough, we found them. One cannot help but love these endearing, furry creatures in their gorgeous fur coats. There was one young of the year in a group of 10 and a few other individuals scattered around the upper reaches of the inlet. Although hunted to near extinction in much of their range, sea otters reestablished themselves in Alaskan waters in large numbers until they began to decrease in western Alaskan waters in the late 1990s. However, the sea otters of Southeast Alaska have been doing very well and we had a good chance to watch them eat crab, groom themselves and just float along peacefully on their backs.
Still before lunch we went to the Zodiacs for a look at Steller sea lions feeding on wild salmon in the strong currents that run through the Inian islands from the Pacific Ocean. What an incredible sight. Both adult and young sea lions swam right next to the Zodiacs, tearing apart salmon by thrashing their heads violently back and forth and swallowing huge chunks of the fish. There were also gulls flocking to the site of each sea lion kill and consuming the bits and pieces spread about during the meal.
As if that weren’t enough excitement for a day, we spent the later afternoon kayaking and hiking along the northern shores of Chicagof Island where we were introduced to the muskeg community and again saw pink salmon heading upstream to spawn. Then back on board we had a delicious dinner and retired to the deck to watch one of the most spectacular sunsets imaginable over the 15,000 foot peaks of the Fairweather Range. Oh my goodness, what a day!
What an incredible day—seems like a week passed in the last 12 hours. We began before breakfast with an early wake-up call to alert us to a group of humpback whales cruising along the shore off Point Adolphus. The Captain maneuvered the ship very skillfully for the next hour while we watched in awe as the group of 8-10 whales surfaced all around us. They would stay in one area for a while, apparently feeding, and then move off a mile or so to a new feeding ground. Two of the whales made hooting and horn-like sounds as they blew out their lungful of air at the surface. There was one youngster among this group of adults and this little one tended to keep its distance, almost as if told not to speak to adults until spoken to. The calf, no doubt born in Hawaii, had made the month long journey to Southeast Alaska alongside his mother and will continue to nurse until weaned within the next few months. The calf breached a few times quite near to the ship to the great enjoyment of all of us aboard the good ship Sea Lion.
After breakfast we headed into Idaho inlet in hopes of finding some sea otters and sure enough, we found them. One cannot help but love these endearing, furry creatures in their gorgeous fur coats. There was one young of the year in a group of 10 and a few other individuals scattered around the upper reaches of the inlet. Although hunted to near extinction in much of their range, sea otters reestablished themselves in Alaskan waters in large numbers until they began to decrease in western Alaskan waters in the late 1990s. However, the sea otters of Southeast Alaska have been doing very well and we had a good chance to watch them eat crab, groom themselves and just float along peacefully on their backs.
Still before lunch we went to the Zodiacs for a look at Steller sea lions feeding on wild salmon in the strong currents that run through the Inian islands from the Pacific Ocean. What an incredible sight. Both adult and young sea lions swam right next to the Zodiacs, tearing apart salmon by thrashing their heads violently back and forth and swallowing huge chunks of the fish. There were also gulls flocking to the site of each sea lion kill and consuming the bits and pieces spread about during the meal.
As if that weren’t enough excitement for a day, we spent the later afternoon kayaking and hiking along the northern shores of Chicagof Island where we were introduced to the muskeg community and again saw pink salmon heading upstream to spawn. Then back on board we had a delicious dinner and retired to the deck to watch one of the most spectacular sunsets imaginable over the 15,000 foot peaks of the Fairweather Range. Oh my goodness, what a day!
