Day 8 pt. 2, Whale Watching

Whale watching was one of the things Nate was most interested in for our time in Seward. After hearing Papa recount his amazing experience on the water the day prior, we had high hopes for a good day of whale watching on our way to kayak, but also very much wanted to temper any expectations in case we came back empty handed.

As it turns out, I've got a pretty good eye for whale spotting. Who knew? The first one I spotted was a Fin Whale, which evidently is a rare sighting. Our captain has been on the water for 10 years in Seward and this was his first time to see one. He left the wheel and came out to gawk like all the rest of us. The Fin Whale rolled along in front of us for only a few minutes, but she gave us a great view of her massive swimming fin. We now know that Fin Whales are the second largest whales.

She passed by and we carried on, passing by Stellar Sea Lions lounging in the sun. Just as we passed them, I excitedly pointed out what I thought was a whale, but other folks said it was just a big log. My hopes were momentarily dashed until the log sprayed a big spout of water with its breath. Turns out the log was a napping humpback whale not far from our boat. He started slapping his arm for the next few minutes. It was a marvel to see that huge flipper up so close.

We moved along and enjoyed the ride when I spotted what I first thought were weird waves or maybe logs near a rocky outcropping. We watched a few minutes more before the telltale water sprays started popping off. It was a pod of at least five or six humpbacks. The crew had seen this pod in the area for a few days, so we sat and watched them play for a while. They weren't feeding in the morning, but one was feeling frisky and leapt into a huge breech, causing a huge, breathtaking splash. We were gobsmacked at our absolute luck.

After watching for a while, the captain reminded us that we needed to move on to make it to the kayaking destination. At that point I had almost forgotten there was more to the day than just whale watching. He noted that we may be able to catch more on the way back.

And boy was he right. On the way back we arrived just in time for the frenzy that is bubble net feeding. This behavior has only been observed in whales around Seward in the last decade, and only lasts for a couple of weeks each year. The whales dive down together and blow bubbles, confusing the fish above, then the whales all surface at once, gorging themselves on the confused fish. Birds then dive-bomb, snatching up the whales' sloppy seconds. The whales repeated this several times, always whipping the birds and boats into a frenzy trying to guess where they'd breach next. My second favorite moment may have been when we heard spouting noises and looked over expecting to see a whale, only to find a sea lion who I firmly believe was solely out in the mix to make noises to confuse all of us on the boat. He was having the time of his life drawing attention away from the whales.

The whole afternoon lived so far beyond our expectations. Everyone on our boat was slap-happy as we headed back to the bay.

My only regret was that the boys didn't get to see the whales in action. While we were out, Papa took them on a 4 hour cruise of Resurrection Bay where they saw seals, otters and Stellar Sea Lions, but weren't likely to see any whales in the bay.

We learned later, however, that their captain pulled an audible and sailed into the Gulf of Alaska after hearing about whales nearby. The boys were treated to a couple of very frisky whales who, as Papa said, were in the mood to show off. They jumped and breached at least 5 times. Everett ran from one side of the boat to the other with a hunch that one was going to breach on the opposite side and got a show nearly just for him.

All three of them were jubilant recounting the scene to us. They may have also still been on a sugar high after slamming probably 100 oz of soda from the free refill cups Papa had bought them.

The waters and whales treated us so incredibly well today. We all went to bed exhausted and feeling so lucky to get to experience this day.Read more