Our day started very early today in a spectacular way. Long before breakfast, we encountered several humpback whales congregated over a large area, very active at the surface. We were able to see whales in all directions, far and close. But the ones that got most of our attention were a female and her calf. The young one, presumably born just a few months ago in the warm and clear waters of the Hawaiian Islands, was very active swimming all around the place and surfacing all excited many times. He even rolled on his side a few times showing his long pectoral fin! His mom was also pretty active, but she was all business: after a long migration of several months to the tropics to give birth to her calf, during which she fasted, now she is hungry. Back in the cold productive waters of Southeast Alaska, she wastes no time in getting back into shape and this morning she regaled us many times with great views of her huge mouth as she fed at the surface. Every few minutes she broke the calm waters with her mouth wide open, showing the baleen inside, to engulf several tons of seawater together with prey—possibly herring. We watched her in awe for a long time and eventually headed towards our morning destination at Lake Eva.
Located on the northeastern side of Baranof Island, Lake Eva is a beautiful place with a great trail in the forest and an interesting coastline. We divided into groups and explored the area by foot, learning more about the ecology of the Tongass National Forest, among Sitka spruce and western hemlock, devil’s club and false azaleas, lichens and mosses. This morning we had our first opportunity to use the kayaks and many of us enjoyed paddling around the coast and into the river. Meanwhile, I went scuba diving with our purser Cassidy and brought back underwater images of the abundant and strange marine creatures that live off the coast, including sunflower and blood sea stars, hermit and helmet crabs, hooded nudibranchs and sea cucumbers.
During the afternoon, we received the visit on board of Dr. Andy Szabo who is the director of the Alaska Whale Foundation and an expert in humpback whales. He lectured us about the marvelous life history of the whales and we appreciated even more our earlier sightings.
After Dr. Szabo’s visit, we continued sailing off the eastern shore of Baranof Island, where we found a beautiful brown bear sow with not one but two cubs! We watched them for a long time as they strolled along the shoreline, she eating herbaceous vegetation while the little guys played around under her vigilant eye. What a wonderful way to finish an extraordinary day!
