Chatham Strait & Funter Bay
Do you believe in serendipity? Well many of us aboard National Geographic Sea Lion do after today.
As we approached our planned anchorage, we spotted a breaching humpback whale in the distance. So we diverted course to investigate and witness this amazing behavior by a true behemoth of the sea. Repeatedly the whale continued breaching, then slapping the surface of the sea with its gigantic pectoral flippers. For many guests on board, this was the first time experiencing this behavior, seeing it with their own eyes.
Deciding that more whales were in the area, we continued on to seek more encounters with the humpbacks from Hawaii. Just the day before, Dr. Fred Sharpe of the Alaska Whale Foundation had been aboard National Geographic Sea Lion presenting a summary of his nearly twenty-five years of research into humpback socialization and feeding behaviors. Now we were getting to see examples of this in the wild.
Soon, we came upon a cow-calf pair just as the youngster started breaching repeatedly in an apparent effort to scare schooling fish into a tighter concentration that would make it easier for the whales to consume. The juvenile whale kept breaching over and over and over again while mom did the deep diving chase of the prey.
This continued on for nearly a half hour when suddenly all was quiet; and both mom and junior went still: logging on the surface, reducing their respiration rate and resting to restore their energy. So close that we could see their sensory tubercles and encrusted barnacles on their rostrums, it was an amazing sight that none of us has ever witnessed in its entirety.
Amazed, but needing to move onward, we set course for Funter Bay on northern Admiralty Island. Not only is the island known for its dense brown bear population, but it was also the site of fish cannery and mining operations during the early part of the last century. Relics of a bygone era were strewn about the tidal area and in the forest: steam engines, railway tracks and even fish transfer barges deep in the modern forest lay in testament to the power of nature to overcome the untended antics of humans. Today, the bay is probably home to more bears than people, with its thirty homesteads.
Expedition team members and guests alike explored on foot, by kayak and by Zodiac this new-to-all of us location. The day was capped off by the visit of four special guests; as local pioneers, Larry Vavra and Angela Thompson and Marge and Tom Osborn were gracious enough to come aboard the National Geographic Sea Lion to share their Alaskan lifestyle with us. All four had relocated to Alaska from the lower 48. Marge is an author and one of her six books, Four Walls against the Wind, chronicles Tom’s and her twelve-year building of their home in this remote outpost.
Our diversion to witness the early morning cetacean display set off a chain of events that ended up producing an amazing day for us. Had we not diverted to see whales, had we been exploring another cove elsewhere, we would have never have shared this ultimately satisfying experience.
Our odyssey was a day of true exploration, appreciating incredible natural beauty, making new friends and experiencing the Lindblad Expedition difference.
