We began the morning at George’s Island, near the northern entrance from the Pacific Ocean into the Inner Passage. After the Japanese bombed and invaded the Aleutian Islands in 1942, a long-distance cannon and a detachment of US army personnel were sent to George’s Island to protect that access to Alaska. For us, George’s Island was a chance to kayak and hike. We hiked through spruce and hemlock forests and got to see one of the bird species we’d been hoping for. The kayaking was particularly fruitful, as we discovered different species harboring within the bullwhip kelp forest and the tidal pools. We particularly enjoyed seeing the moon jellies and four colors of ochre sea stars.
In the afternoon we toured the Inian Islands by zodiac. We passed a rocky outcropping with at least 150 stellar sea lions, not counting the dozen or so that swam all around our zodiac, lifting up their heads to get a good look at us. The sea lions were so active and playful that it felt as if the sea was boiling around us. A few sea otters floated through the chaos, apparently unafraid of their larger neighbors. As we headed out into deeper water, we saw several “blows” of humpbacks— and then two surfaced immediately behind our zodiac, so close that we could see their bodies through the water as they glided past. The animal viewing was so wonderful that we barely noticed that we’d been traveling in a light rain for 90 minutes!
After dinner we had a short presentation by one of the dive team. Just as she finished some passengers declared that there were whales off the starboard bow. We had another humpback show. This time there were no breaches or bubble-net feeding behaviors, but there were over a dozen humpbacks (perhaps up to 20) that surrounded the ship— we couldn’t decide where to look as whales were surfacing all around us. In some cases whales came right towards the ship and dove, and in a moment appeared on the other side of the ship. At another time, three sea lions swam alongside the ship, apparently along side a humpback swimming in the same path. The whole experience was simply spectacular.
Pictured: moon jellyfish, chestnut-backed chickadee, stellar sea lion, sea otters, a double fluke.
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