Today was certainly one for the books. We started the day with the intention of hiking around Pavlov Harbor; however we were unable to access land due to too many bears, which turned out to be an amazing problem. We ended up watching the bears catch salmon from Zodiacs for the morning. Our global explorers had fun with their Zodiac lesson. We continued cruising toward Sitka, spotting whales along the way. We ended the evening by building a human whale during recap.
9/2/2024
Read
National Geographic Sea Lion
Iyoukeen Cove and Pavlof Harbor
Good morning from Southeast Alaska! Today is our first full day aboard National Geographic Sea Lion and WOWZER it was absolutely a top-notch day! It seemed like a dream, to be honest — this was one of the most amazing first days of the summer season. We woke up and as we sipped coffee on the bow came word from the bridge: “Killer whales off the bow.” We stayed with the animals for an amazing encounter; ID photos were taken and submitted to local researchers. We learned who was who in this family pod: we observed T035A (with her offspring), and her sister T038A (and her calf). After lunch we made our way to our afternoon anchorage, and approximately 4-7 humpback whales were spotted exhaling near shore. Our afternoon activities included kayaking around a small bay filled with sea otters, and then Zodiac cruising up an active Pacific salmon spawning stream in hopes of viewing some bears. And you guessed it — coastal brown bears were at the waterfall, gorging themselves on the salmon traveling upstream to spawn. From sunrise to sunset, this day was one for the record books. All we need now is Northern Lights this evening! Manifesting starts now.
