“We have humpback whales in front of the ship…AND THEY ARE BUBBLENETTING RIGHT NOW!” announced our expedition leader Alberto Montaudon over the PA system. What a way to start the day in Southeast Alaska! When breakfast was announced, hardly anyone was willing to go inside and miss this unique display of cooperative whale feeding.
As a lightly mist fell from the gray-on-gray skies, National Geographic Sea Lion cruised into Pavlof Harbor on the south side of Chichagof Island and dropped anchor. Many of us hiked along the shoreline or through the temperate rain forest, where we marveled at the lush vegetation, large trees, and abundant wildflowers. Some of those on the long hike/wet slog even spotted a calling common loon and evidence of beavers along the lake. Kayaking was also offered, which allowed us the opportunity to paddle into the lower parts of the waterfall and have our kayaks pushed around by the fast-moving currents as migrating salmon leaped out of the water nearby. Any activity we did seemed like the perfect thing to do in such typical southeast weather.
After lunch, we raised anchor and began cruising south along Chatham Strait, looking for marine mammals and other items of interest. As we headed into the windy conditions, we soon spotted a large group of at least eight humpback whales, who were also exhibiting bubblenettting behavior. As our vessel positioned for a better view, the whales blew bubbles into the water and encircled their prey, rising up inside the cylindrical bubble curtain toward the surface with their mouths wide open. These feeding humpback whales displayed other behavior such as coordinated breathing, fluking, rolling, and tail slapping. It was quite a sight and we got incredible views of all of these unique whale behaviors. At one point, the bubblenet was directly underneath the ship and the whales surfaced nearby. Although the whales knew of our presence, it did not seem to affect them in the least.
Later in the afternoon, naturalist Al Trujillo gave an interactive talk on how climate change is affecting the oceans. Later, during recap, our photo instructor Sharon Grainger showed the guest slide show and we were all impressed by the unique images we had all captured. Our undersea specialist Tamsen Peeples also showed a video of her recent underwater dive.
During the captain’s farewell dinner, we began cruising Peril Strait toward Sitka, our port of disembarkation and the end of a fabulous week’s voyage. Emotions flowed strongly as we bid this great land one last farewell—at least for now.
