It’s always a good idea to start your day with a porpoise. Fortunately for us, we woke up to find a bunch of them surfing the wave at the bow of our ship! After coffee and breakfast, we anchored in Pavlov Harbor and went ashore for hiking and kayaking.
The hikers who made it all the way to the lake were greeted by a mother bear and her two cubs on the other side of the meadow. Other hikers took their time and got a close-up look at the diversity of mosses and liverworts on the forest floor. Back on the ship, our moss-enthusiasts looked at the tiny structures on the microscope and found over 40 different species!
As we cruised south through Chatham Strait a pod of killer whales made a debut, so we slowed the boat to admire them in the misty afternoon light. Before we could head back inside, we spotted a crowd of humpback whales in the distance. As we approached, we realized they had formed a cooperative feeding group, blowing bubbles in a circle to trap fish and synchronously lunge feeding in the center. This remarkable behavior is known as bubble-net feeding and it was quite the display. To top it all off, we finished our evening with a presentation from Andy Szabo, one of our top whale researchers in Southeast Alaska.
