Sitkoh Bay and Chatahm Strait
Another lovely gray day in Alaska. Plants and animals thirsted for this rain that has fallen the last couple of days. After all, this forest we so enjoy here is a temperate rain forest. So there!
We are already in Chatham Strait, that enormous strait that almost runs south-north in the Inside Passage area of Alaska. We are slowly wending our way to the western side of the strait, toward the island of Baranof, and further north, Chichagof. Once here, we anchored in Sitkoh Bay, where we divided into groups to enjoy the morning: hikers, into the forest, and along an old logging road with an opportunity to see a brown bear on their path; kayakers to enjoy some exercise and the solitude for a while. These last saw a deer on the shore! Others had the opportunity of taking a Zodiac drive along the shore, where they saw a wolf run off into the forest, and shortly thereafter, a big brown bear eating grass at the shore. Quite a morning.
We all returned to our floating home and proceeded north along Chatham Strait, looking for cetaceans. Throughout most of the afternoon we had the opportunity of seeing a large number of Dall’s porpoise. These are considered the fastest cetacean, although orcas routinely feed on them! They swim very fast and as they surface to breathe they cut the water with such force that they make what is called a rooster tail. They also like to bow-ride fast ships, and they did so with us. Six of them would hold position ahead of our bow, only coming up to breathe every so often. What a sight!
And as we sailed on to the north, we kept our eyes open for whales. We really didn’t have to wait long. And what a sight again!! Killer whales and humpback whales. We enjoyed the first species shortly, as they had other plans. But the humpback whales were marvelous. They were bubble-net feeding, a quite rare behavior, except here in Alaska. This is a situation where a series of whales (8?) band together, and find a fish school (capelin, young pollock, herring or sandlance), and one of the behemoths dives beneath the school and begins to swim in a circle, letting a line of bubbles escape through its blow-hole. In this manner it creates a net of bubbles, forcing the fish school into a tight ball, where they are all caught as the group swims up to the surface with great, open mouths, engulfing many fish, as well as enormous quantities of water. They all hit the surface, where they close their magnificent mouths, and begin to eliminate the water, forcing it through their baleen, which acts like a sieve. Then they swallow all the fish! What a wonderful method of fishing!
