Slow cruising north in Chatham Strait, that’s your pace when you accompany four humpback whales that are also, slowly cruising north in Chatham Strait. We started our relaxed morning watching these whales repeatedly breathe, languidly dive, and explosively exhale upon their return to the surface. In the fast lane were Dall’s porpoises. These little black-and-white swimming Oreos zipped along the water’s surface, throwing a rooster tail spray and thrilling us as we rushed to the bow, hung our heads upside-down, and enjoyed a show as these animals rode the bow wave in front of our hull.
Lake Eva became our afternoon playground. Kayaking and a variety of walks kept us busy, but the lovely brown bear walking the edge of the back lagoon kept us enthralled. As kayakers admired the lovely falls created by the stream from Lake Eva, a brown bear was spotted. This bear could not have been more cooperative for viewing as it skirted the shoreline, crossed the lagoon in the shallows, came up the trail where one hiking group was admiring it, crossed back to the shoreline, swam across the lagoon, and then continued along the edge of the forest, eating blueberries from the bushes as it finished its clockwise circuit of the inner lagoon. Kayakers just spun in little kayak donut circles to watch the whole show.
The wildlife was not finished with us yet. As we recapped our day and settled into the dining room, a humpback whale calf started breaching off our starboard side of the ship. It seemed the ship should have listed to starboard as the patrons of the dining room rushed the windows. The view was magnificent as this animal intermittently breached, rolled belly up and slapped its pectoral fins on the water, dove and resurfaced in a full body, three-quarter spiral breach. Being the appreciative audience, we applauded its efforts.
We may have started our day at a leisurely pace, but we certainly ended it with an exclamation point, and a huge splash.
