Inian Islands, George Island and Killer Whales!
In a seemingly fruitless quest for flight, Pacific loons splashed and sputtered a series of crisscrossing wake lines along our route this morning. Small clouds of phalaropes flew about, airborne smudges zigzagging in unison.
Bundled against the wind, and left nearly motionless by our many layers, we boarded Zodiacs to search for sea beasts during a flood tide in the Inian Islands. Sea otters were the first to give us cause to pause. In whispered voices we cooed, oohed and admired these whiskered weasels. Bobbing amongst the kelp they cautiously returned our gaze, lost their courage, or re-discovered their sense of self preservation, and dove, only to reappear several yards further away and repeat the entire cycle again.
Puffin fly-by! Our first puffin came careening across our bow in a furious fit of wing beats. The next sighting was more tranquil as they paddled and rode the gentle swell of the Pacific.
Amongst twirling swirlies of whirlpools and reverse pinwheel eddies we came into a feeding frenzy. Sailing in on the morning flood-tide fish entered into Cross Sound and the welcoming committee was a colony of Steller sea lions. Rude digestive sounds emanated from a few of the semi-soporific sea lions draped on the rocks. The rest of the bunch surfed the incoming waves between bouts of fish-flinging also called “shake and break.” Large fish need to be broken into smaller bites. To accomplish this task, the sea lions would come to the surface with their meal and with a vigorous shake of the head, fling and break their meal into smaller chunks.
Bald eagles joined the banquet, swooping and snatching unsuspecting fish carried to the surface by the dramatic water hydraulics. The chicken-chirp cackles of eagles perched in the trees accompanied the groans of sea lions and the rush of flood tide.
The rolling landscape of George Island offered us a chance to stretch our legs and gaze upon the spectacle of sunshine on the snowcapped Fairweather Range. This was a short diversion from the cetacean sensation of the afternoon. Our intentions were to spend our afternoon kayaking, but when the two pods of killer whales passed by our anchorage, everything changed, and quickly.
We soon found ourselves using a chorus line of at least 20 killer whales as a foreground element with the Fairweather Range as our backdrop. A group of Steller sea lions swam nearby in a tight group, casting more than a few anxious looks towards the pod as it swam slow donuts in South Inian Pass. Clouds of cormorants lifted from the water, a swirling mass of unsettled cormorant confetti, flying off to other locations with more fish and perhaps fewer killer whales in the vicinity. We suspected this may have been a super pod, killer whales gathering with the intent of exchanging genetic material. A flash of pink in addition to the expected black and white of the whales helped to fuel this speculation.
We ended the day feeling incredibly rich and fortunate to have such exceptional experiences amongst marine mammals. From adorable sea otters to boisterous sea lions and a plentitude of killer whales, today we struck gold in Southeast Alaska.
