Exploring Southeast Alaska
What an amazing morning! As the National Geographic Sea Bird made its way through Peril Straight this morning, we came upon a sea lion frolicking with a humpback whale. Or maybe the humpback was frolicking with the sea lion… it was hard to tell. But it was a memorable start to our voyage.
We wandered our way through the inlets and coves of Kelp Bay, stopping by waterfalls and looking for wildlife along the way. It was not long before we came along another humpback whale putting on quite a show. These animals have come all the way from their winter breeding ground in Hawaii to feed in the nutrient rich waters of Southeast Alaska. They filter feed by gulping in large amounts of water and then straining it through three to four hundred baleen plates to trap food like krill and herring. The patterns on the underside of their flukes are photographed and used like fingerprints to identify individual whales.
While the humpback was breeching and displaying its large pectoral fins, an orca, sometimes known as a killer whale, suddenly appeared. Technically, this creature is more closely related to a dolphin than a humpback. They are also photographed for identification using their dorsal fins and the shape of the white saddle patch just behind it. Though all orcas are toothed creatures, only the transient pods eat marine mammals, while the resident pods only eat fish. We were very lucky to see these two creatures at the same time.
But even before lunch there was still more! Deep in a bay, there was a brown bear spotting. Then another was seen running in the stream and finally a third bear arrived on the shoreline. One of the bears made its way slowly along the shore, over logs and rocks, occasionally looking at us, looking at him. Unbelievably, we were able to count more than one hundred bald eagles scattered among the trees near the river.
The afternoon was spent exploring Pond Island. While kayakers paddled along the coastline, hikers made their way through the temperate rainforest up to a beaver pond. One group was even fortunate enough to spot a Sitka black-tailed deer fawn. While returning to the Zodiacs, the beach was filled with popping noises as we walked over the dense fucus, or pop weed plants and barnacle covered rocks.
What an amazing morning! As the National Geographic Sea Bird made its way through Peril Straight this morning, we came upon a sea lion frolicking with a humpback whale. Or maybe the humpback was frolicking with the sea lion… it was hard to tell. But it was a memorable start to our voyage.
We wandered our way through the inlets and coves of Kelp Bay, stopping by waterfalls and looking for wildlife along the way. It was not long before we came along another humpback whale putting on quite a show. These animals have come all the way from their winter breeding ground in Hawaii to feed in the nutrient rich waters of Southeast Alaska. They filter feed by gulping in large amounts of water and then straining it through three to four hundred baleen plates to trap food like krill and herring. The patterns on the underside of their flukes are photographed and used like fingerprints to identify individual whales.
While the humpback was breeching and displaying its large pectoral fins, an orca, sometimes known as a killer whale, suddenly appeared. Technically, this creature is more closely related to a dolphin than a humpback. They are also photographed for identification using their dorsal fins and the shape of the white saddle patch just behind it. Though all orcas are toothed creatures, only the transient pods eat marine mammals, while the resident pods only eat fish. We were very lucky to see these two creatures at the same time.
But even before lunch there was still more! Deep in a bay, there was a brown bear spotting. Then another was seen running in the stream and finally a third bear arrived on the shoreline. One of the bears made its way slowly along the shore, over logs and rocks, occasionally looking at us, looking at him. Unbelievably, we were able to count more than one hundred bald eagles scattered among the trees near the river.
The afternoon was spent exploring Pond Island. While kayakers paddled along the coastline, hikers made their way through the temperate rainforest up to a beaver pond. One group was even fortunate enough to spot a Sitka black-tailed deer fawn. While returning to the Zodiacs, the beach was filled with popping noises as we walked over the dense fucus, or pop weed plants and barnacle covered rocks.
