This morning began early, with great reason, as a pod of killer whales was spotted on the port side bow. No one seemed to mind the early wakeup call to watch these majestic giants dipping and diving around us. The excited observation deck was full of hushed moments, lots of pointing, and a frenzy of confirming ISO speeds. For several here, seeing the elusive killer whale was the primary goal of their trip and it was accomplished before breakfast.
Immediately following breakfast, another welcoming announcement informed us a tail-slapping humpback was waiting to say hello. Once again, we joined on the deck and marveled in this magnificent creature. We headed towards our intended landing on George Island and broke off into kayaking and hiking groups. The second day of kayaking seemed to treat everyone much better and the small cove had interesting surface sea life. The rocky walls housed large colorful star fish, bright red anemones, and monstrous kelp. When you looked down, not too quickly or you might tip the kayak, you saw tiny iridescent jellyfish floating and riding the current.
We all enjoyed some aerobic exercise on the beach where a new sport has been introduced - jump kelping. Picture jump rope but with a long piece of kelp and some clumsy individuals in muck boots and life jackets. As you can imagine, laughter ensued.
The afternoon proved to be even more spectacular than the morning, if that is even possible. A cruise through the Inian Islands left us in awe with wildlife literally surrounding our inflatable boats. To set the scene imagine eight rain-protected people in a boat and around them the following: tufted puffins stalling on takeoff, Steller sea lions lolling in the current with a fury of seabirds diving for their scraps, harbor porpoises leaping in and out of the water, more bald eagles than you could even begin to count gazing down on us from the trees above, and off in the distance, the steam from a humpback’s breath shooting into the air. That humpback waved us goodbye with his powerful flukes and we called it an afternoon.
It was a typical day in Southeast Alaska, and we were a part of it.
