Early morning found National Geographic Sea Lion cruising south down the east coast of Chichagof Island. We were spending the morning looking for wildlife in an area of Southeast Alaska called Chatham Strait. There were several humpback whales around, but they were very focused on feeding, diving for long periods, and generally being aloof. So right before breakfast Sea Lion continued on in our search for “charismatic megafauna,” steaming further south down Chatham Strait, and toward our afternoon landing site.
The weather continued to improve, becoming downright warm, as the ceiling overhead lifted, and the threat of rain seemed to vanish right before our eyes! The decision was made to give another photo presentation, and as usual, it worked like a charm. About halfway through it, the expedition leader walked into the lounge and announced that there was a lunge-feeding humpback whale ahead; lecture over!
There was a lot of scrambling to get cameras and binoculars, but as the last of the guests arrived out on deck, we all were treated to an amazing show of behavior called “bubble netting.” This is a feeding strategy used by some populations of humpback whales. They corral small fish into tight groups using a ring of bubbles, before lunging to the surface with their mouths open, capturing as many of those small fish as they can. Toward the end, a second whale joined in on the action. It was a spectacular show, with several very close encounters with the ship! There were probably only a few thousand photos taken during this event, along with a fair share of video clips. A stunning encounter, to say the least!
All good things must come to an end, so as the whales slowly moved off, so did we, continuing on toward our afternoon landing site, Lake Eva trail. The action wasn’t over quite yet however; a sow brown bear with a yearling cub was spotted near a stream just adjacent to our anchorage site. So we were treated to another pre-lunch wildlife show as they grazed along the shoreline in this pristine setting!
After lunch the staff and crew prepared for our afternoon of hikes and kayaking. Soon it was leaping salmon, paddling into a lagoon area to a small waterfall, watching harbor seals chasing fish and walking along a beautiful salmon spawning stream. What an exciting and wondrous day!
