Cross Sound, George Island and Icy Strait
You won’t believe how we spent this day! It started innocently enough by sticking our little Sea Lion neck out into Cross Sound and the edge of the North Pacific Ocean in order to see what was happening at Tabletop Island. Often we see many species of seabirds, sea otters and Steller sea lions on and around Tabletop. However, on the way we spotted a pod of killer whales and our Expedition Leader, David Cothran, was on the public address system and in our dreams with a 0630 announcement to get up and out of bed and onto the deck. And boy was it worth it! The sun was shining, the skies clear and the Fairweather Mountain range rose out of the sea to its 15,000 foot crest only 10 miles from the coast. For the next 3 hours we became part of a very large gathering of killer whales – our minimum count was 38, our best guess was 50 and our top estimate was 65. This was a superpod grouping with one large pod of at least 25 and 2 smaller groups, joining and separating time and again as they traveled steadily westward past Lisianski Inlet and well out into the Pacific coast of Yakobi Island. As far as we know the Sea Lion has never been this far out into the Pacific in Southeast Alaska. Oh, I forgot, there were also humpback whales feeding as we and the killer whales made our way westward.
Having finally pulled ourselves away from the killer whales, we headed shoreward and passed through the exciting tidal flows in North Inian Pass and Mosquito Passage where we watched a mother and calf humpback whale playing in the huge tidal currents and eddies, Steller sea lions catching and eating salmon, sea otters with young in the kelp beds and endless thousands of sea birds feeding in the food rich and turbulent waters. The Sea Lion then anchored in Granite Cove on George Island for our afternoon adventures on this jewel of an island near the edge of the Pacific. Many of us kayaked along the rugged cliffs, strewn with spruce trees and early spring wildflowers while others hiked ashore. The hikers enjoyed the beautiful Sitka spruce rainforest and many made it all the way to a World War II gun emplacement with a huge 6 inch gun that was used to protect this important entrance to the inland waterways of the US Pacific coast.
Back aboard, just as our last recap was about to begin, the call came to come out on deck – a group of humpback whales was performing. We almost couldn’t believe our eyes as a calf of the year repeatedly breached while it traveled with 4 adult whales. Over and over again, the group of 5 whales passed almost within touching distance and the calf kept slapping its tail, rolling over with flippers slapping the water and occasionally breaching. While all this was going on, at least 5 pairs of humpback whales rose and blew and disappeared in the distance. All of this under clear skies with a backdrop of some of the most beautiful snow-capped mountains on earth. That was our day, how about yours?!
You won’t believe how we spent this day! It started innocently enough by sticking our little Sea Lion neck out into Cross Sound and the edge of the North Pacific Ocean in order to see what was happening at Tabletop Island. Often we see many species of seabirds, sea otters and Steller sea lions on and around Tabletop. However, on the way we spotted a pod of killer whales and our Expedition Leader, David Cothran, was on the public address system and in our dreams with a 0630 announcement to get up and out of bed and onto the deck. And boy was it worth it! The sun was shining, the skies clear and the Fairweather Mountain range rose out of the sea to its 15,000 foot crest only 10 miles from the coast. For the next 3 hours we became part of a very large gathering of killer whales – our minimum count was 38, our best guess was 50 and our top estimate was 65. This was a superpod grouping with one large pod of at least 25 and 2 smaller groups, joining and separating time and again as they traveled steadily westward past Lisianski Inlet and well out into the Pacific coast of Yakobi Island. As far as we know the Sea Lion has never been this far out into the Pacific in Southeast Alaska. Oh, I forgot, there were also humpback whales feeding as we and the killer whales made our way westward.
Having finally pulled ourselves away from the killer whales, we headed shoreward and passed through the exciting tidal flows in North Inian Pass and Mosquito Passage where we watched a mother and calf humpback whale playing in the huge tidal currents and eddies, Steller sea lions catching and eating salmon, sea otters with young in the kelp beds and endless thousands of sea birds feeding in the food rich and turbulent waters. The Sea Lion then anchored in Granite Cove on George Island for our afternoon adventures on this jewel of an island near the edge of the Pacific. Many of us kayaked along the rugged cliffs, strewn with spruce trees and early spring wildflowers while others hiked ashore. The hikers enjoyed the beautiful Sitka spruce rainforest and many made it all the way to a World War II gun emplacement with a huge 6 inch gun that was used to protect this important entrance to the inland waterways of the US Pacific coast.
Back aboard, just as our last recap was about to begin, the call came to come out on deck – a group of humpback whales was performing. We almost couldn’t believe our eyes as a calf of the year repeatedly breached while it traveled with 4 adult whales. Over and over again, the group of 5 whales passed almost within touching distance and the calf kept slapping its tail, rolling over with flippers slapping the water and occasionally breaching. While all this was going on, at least 5 pairs of humpback whales rose and blew and disappeared in the distance. All of this under clear skies with a backdrop of some of the most beautiful snow-capped mountains on earth. That was our day, how about yours?!
