We started our expedition through Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, with typical weather conditions; fog and light rain. As we sailed in the vicinity of Morris Reef, we spotted a group of about ten humpback whales. The blows were close together, and the flukes seemed well coordinated as they dived down. Suddenly, the entire group of humpbacks made the surface of the water explode as they cooperatively fed on a school of fish. We always look for this behavior, which is not only interesting, but also spectacular. To make the experience even better, we deployed the hydrophone. It is such an amazing thing to be able to listen to the calls of these humpbacks as they organize themselves to hunt down the entire school of fish! A single whale plays the role of the singer, and as the entire group ascends with mouths wide open, the pitch of the song gets more intense and the pitch becomes higher and higher. We never know where the whales will surface, but by listening to their voices, we can tell when they will surface. Photographers can be prepared to take a picture of one of the most dramatic behaviors that whales display as they feed.
After spending most of the morning with the humpback whales, we headed to a place called Pavlof Harbor. This landing is located within Freshwater Bay on Chichagof Island. This place is special, because we can visit an important salmon-spawning stream. Pink salmon spawn at the foot of a small waterfall, and we often have the opportunity to see coastal brown bears feeding here. We spent some time patiently waiting to have a bear sighting. Time passed, and we continued to wait. Finally a mother with her cubs showed up. It was a short sighting, where first the mother walked towards the waterfall, smelled the air, and then turned away and disappeared back into the forest. After that, a cub on its second year of life did exactly the same thing.
Nature is unpredictable, but the time spent in nature is always time well spent. The time that we have spent at the bear’s realm, is time that we should cherish, since we have been guests at the home of one of the most enigmatic creatures of the temperate rainforest.
