Pavlof Harbor and Chatham Strait
Early this morning we woke up to our first morning of our journey through Southeast Alaska. Coffee in hand, we enjoyed the cool breeze and flat calm waters as we sailed through Chatham Strait. A few humpback whales sporadically emerged leaving their steamy blows on the horizon. Out in the distance we could see another humpback whale that kept on breaching and tail lobbing. We slowly approached and to our luck, the whale continued breaching repeatedly. We were all impressed by the whale’s acrobatic behavior as it leaped fully out of the water. By the time we walked into the dining room for breakfast, we had all enjoyed a good half-hour of spectacular whale watching.
Pavlof Harbor was our morning’s destination. This part of Chichagof Island is a perfect place to kayak and to explore the temperate rain forest for the first time. Pink salmon are already running strong on the stream, and we could witness this exodus of fish waiting for the right time to jump up through the waterfall. Both kayakers and hikers could see the waterfall teeming with life.
As we walked through the forest, a lot of bear activity was present. Bears had taken and partially eaten several salmon that were near the stream. We encountered scratched trees with fur and tracks along the muddy trail. All of this reminded us not only of the health of this environment, but that here we are guests… to the bear’s forest.
For the afternoon, we sailed through Chatham Strait in search for marine mammals. Our first encounter was very exciting. A group of Dall’s porpoises came out fast as torpedoes, as they headed towards the ship’s bow. Although Dall’s porpoises are much faster than our ship, they playfully joined us to ride the ship’s bow. These creatures look like small versions of orca, and are among the fastest swimming of all cetaceans.
Later on, we located a group of humpback whales, as each leviathan made its own bubble net. We could see the rings of bubbles on the calm surface, as the whales made a psychological trap around the schools of fish. This technique of catching the entire school is a sophisticated use of bubbles as tools, a remarkable capability used by the highly intelligent submarine giants.
