Today was an incredible day, one of those days that even the staff will remember forever and compare to other days. We started our morning at a beautiful anchorage called Fox Creek. Guests kayaked in crystal-clear, blue waters, where they spotted small fish and even some sea stars. They hiked into the forest and saw bear tracks, wildflowers, and bald eagles. On top of great hiking/kayaking conditions, we had impeccable weather. The sun was shining, there was no wind, and the air temperature was warm. We traveled a short distance to the Inian Islands, which were an absolute dream. The good weather continued, and we saw so many humpback whales. We observed breaching, chin slapping, tail slapping, and feeding. The Steller sea lions were not about to be outdone, and they jumped, played in our wake, and swam underneath our boats. As if the day couldn’t get better, we saw a rare minke whale that let us watch it for about twenty minutes. To top off the day, we had trivia night.
9/10/2024
Read
National Geographic Sea Lion
Pavlof Harbor
The day started with an exciting encounter. Before breakfast we observed a group of bubble-netting humpback whales. It was incredible to see them lunge and hear them breathing at the surface. This was coupled by a glorious pink sunrise. After breakfast we took Zodiac cruises searching for bears near Pavlof Harbor. Even though we did not find any (wildlife is always delightfully unexpected), the scenery was beautiful, and we watched many adorable harbor seals. After thinking the excitement of the day was done, we spotted a large group of whales from a distance. While approaching closer, we realized this group was also bubble-net feeding. Close to the shore, we observed these whales for hours. We even dropped the hydrophone to hear their haunting feeding call before they all lunged at the surface. It was one of the most incredible things any of us had ever witnessed. As if this wasn’t enough, at our sunset recap we got the call that there were killer whales around the ship. It was the most amazing ending to the most amazing day.