Chatham Strait
Days like today seem to be a fantastic, cosmic dare—top this if you can!
We awoke early this morning to a group of humpbacks off our bow. We were fortunate to witness them using a technique called cooperative bubble-net feeding. Working up and down the coast, the group of about a dozen animals corralled small schooling fish using bubbles and eerie sounds that we heard using our hydrophone. Forcing the fish (herring, perhaps) into a tight ball, the whales then surged up through the center of the frantic mass, mouths agape. Their tremendous throat pleats expanded with water and fish, the humpbacks then used their massive tongues to push the water out the corners of their mouths, straining out the fish with their baleen. Hmmm…good! And that was all before breakfast!
We spent the next several hours tidepooling, kayaking, walking through the forest and exploring the coastline via Zodiac under beautiful, mostly sunny Alaskan skies. After lunch, we were able to locate more bubble-net feeders and spent time watching in amazement at our good fortune. As we began to head south, we saw a lone, male Orca in the distance. After maybe 20 minutes, we caught up with him and to our surprise and complete delight, he decided to perform for us in a manner that would put Keiko (a.k.a. Free Willy) to shame! He breached repeatedly, launching his sleek, handsome, tuxedoed body clear of the water numerous times. In between breaches, he sometimes tail-lobbed—slapping the water forcefully with his powerful flukes. Then he started playing in a bed of bull kelp. We began to wonder whether he might have something against this particular kelp bed, because he literally tore it apart! He rolled, tail-lobbed and sprinted through this underwater forest, often appearing at the surface with his dorsal fin draped in thick, brown snarls of seaweed that trailed behind him.
As if there needed to be more, we had an unusual sighting of a yellow-billed loon and an eagle pursuing a Canada goose (unsuccessfully), watched Dall’s porpoise streaking through the water at high speeds, spotted numerous leaping salmon preparing to enter the rivers to spawn and identified jellies of several species and dozens of intertidal creatures. Wait—we just found a large pod Orca for after dinner viewing. Gotta go! Top this if you can—indeed!
Days like today seem to be a fantastic, cosmic dare—top this if you can!
We awoke early this morning to a group of humpbacks off our bow. We were fortunate to witness them using a technique called cooperative bubble-net feeding. Working up and down the coast, the group of about a dozen animals corralled small schooling fish using bubbles and eerie sounds that we heard using our hydrophone. Forcing the fish (herring, perhaps) into a tight ball, the whales then surged up through the center of the frantic mass, mouths agape. Their tremendous throat pleats expanded with water and fish, the humpbacks then used their massive tongues to push the water out the corners of their mouths, straining out the fish with their baleen. Hmmm…good! And that was all before breakfast!
We spent the next several hours tidepooling, kayaking, walking through the forest and exploring the coastline via Zodiac under beautiful, mostly sunny Alaskan skies. After lunch, we were able to locate more bubble-net feeders and spent time watching in amazement at our good fortune. As we began to head south, we saw a lone, male Orca in the distance. After maybe 20 minutes, we caught up with him and to our surprise and complete delight, he decided to perform for us in a manner that would put Keiko (a.k.a. Free Willy) to shame! He breached repeatedly, launching his sleek, handsome, tuxedoed body clear of the water numerous times. In between breaches, he sometimes tail-lobbed—slapping the water forcefully with his powerful flukes. Then he started playing in a bed of bull kelp. We began to wonder whether he might have something against this particular kelp bed, because he literally tore it apart! He rolled, tail-lobbed and sprinted through this underwater forest, often appearing at the surface with his dorsal fin draped in thick, brown snarls of seaweed that trailed behind him.
As if there needed to be more, we had an unusual sighting of a yellow-billed loon and an eagle pursuing a Canada goose (unsuccessfully), watched Dall’s porpoise streaking through the water at high speeds, spotted numerous leaping salmon preparing to enter the rivers to spawn and identified jellies of several species and dozens of intertidal creatures. Wait—we just found a large pod Orca for after dinner viewing. Gotta go! Top this if you can—indeed!
