Chichagof Island – “From A Distance”
From a distance, the world looks blue and green, and snow capped mountains white. From a distance, the ocean meets the stream, and the eagle takes to flight. From a distance there is harmony, and it echoes through the land. It’s the voice of hope. It’s the voice of peace. It’s the voice of every man.
- Julie Gold
Today on National Geographic Sea Bird we explored the blues and greens of Chatham Strait. In the misty morning light our expedition staff sighted killer whales. Through our lenses, both camera and binocular, we watched as individuals interacted with one another, spy hopping, tail slapping, surfacing to breathe, and breaching.
Resident pods of killer whales meet in southeast Alaska periodically, greeting one another and interacting socially and sexually. It is a rare opportunity to have them interact with the ship as well. Our photos show our own curiosity as well as theirs.
Cooperative bubble-net feeding is a show of how humpback whales work together in harmony to nourish their forty-ton bodies. One whale sets the net by blowing bubbles in a circle spiraling upward. Another whale’s trumpet echoes underwater, stunning herring into tight aggregations inside the net. In synchronicity, the other humpbacks swim up, their mouths agape, baleen dripping, prey jumping for their life, all to the continuous rhythm of our shutters opening and closing. This behavior is unique to Southeast, and fluke ID studies show that there is a core group of animals that has been feeding together for more than a decade.
Call this an expedition. The sun has yet to pass its apex in the soft gray sky, which is part of the beauty of this place made of grandeur.
An eagle’s voice echoed in the forest as we loaded our Zodiacs and kayaks for an afternoon of exploring. Coastal brown bears working where a stream meets the sea, fishing for salmon returning to their spanning grounds, silenced us in awe.
As David Cothran says, “seeing, experiencing from water level, is the heart and soul of Lindblad Expeditions. True to the very soul of an expedition, this day was written by sightings of killer whales mingling, whales feeding, bears fishing, and birds in flight.
Wild places are the voice of hope, the song of peace, and the voice of every man.
