National Geographic Sea Lion spent the day headed south through the narrow straits that make up the inside passage of British Columbia. The passage was a green belt of red cedar and towering Sitka spruce. Waterfalls cascaded into the ocean, cutting white steaks into the otherwise impenetrable rain forest. On the ship, the bow was full of eager searchers, looking for the wildlife that lurk in the hidden straits. A humpback whale put on a friendly performance, logging at the surface. At the same time a pod of Dall’s Porpoise came to play on the ships bow! A successful day of wildlife viewing with stunning landscape to accent the photos.
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 04 Sep 2019
British Columbia’s Inside Passage, 9/4/2019, National Geographic Sea Lion
- Aboard the National Geographic Sea Lion
- Alaska
Adam Maire, Undersea Specialist
Explorers Club Member, Polar Expedition Diver, Naturalist, and Historian, Adam Maire is dedicated to exploring around the globe with a goal of researching, documenting, and teaching others about the beauty, the power and the importance of the earth's...
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Voyage to Alaska, British Columbia and Haida Gwaii
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We had a phenomenal day at Glacier Bay National Park. The sun was out, as was the wildlife. The bow was the place to be. Please enjoy the dialogue of the day from the bow: Ah, Lovely Sunrise. Dall’s porpoise! Killer whales! Oo, swans! Calving center! Bald eagle on ice. Brown bear, That’s a big one. Bald eagle in nest. I wish someone would find me a marmot. Marmot at 10! Where? Do you see that crack in the rock? To the left you’ll see a tree. Now go below the tree to the round rock. 6 goats plus bonus outcast goat. Low goats on ledge, wedged in nicely. Goats, goats everywhere, and a marmot here or there. Two puffins. Nice beak action. It’s like “I Spy” out here. Low goat at 11. Oh, really low goat. Oh, yea that’s a fella. Goats looking right at us, folks, good goat face. Oh, and whale spots at 1. Oh boy, I’m exhausted. That’s ok, take it one goat at a time. There’s a spout off the point. Classic humpback. Oh, glaucous winged gulls nesting at 2. And otters! Fly by puffins! Porpoising harbor porpoise! Needless to say, we had a good time. Photo by Shannon Malone
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Tracy Arm
As we continued our way north through Alaska, we had a favorite stop of mine in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness. We had a rainy day, which I enjoy because we can see at higher elevations since the rain turns to snow and, in turn, the snow feeds the absorption zone of the Sawyer Glaciers. We went out in the Zodiacs and navigated around the icebergs and bergy bits, even collecting a piece for the ice melt-off challenge. Once underway out of Tracy Arm, we saw some humpback whales. One whale had an entanglement of line on its fluke. The line was causing an obvious cut to the marine mammal. The correct authorities were notified about the condition of the whale and location of the sighting. Hopefully the whale will be assisted soon and the entanglement removed. Several other humpbacks were seen shortly after, luckily no entanglements on these. They were demonstrating surface feeding behavior, with one lunge feeding and the other making bubbles to catch its prey.