Pavlof Harbor and Chatham Strait
The spirit of expedition travel was thoroughly fulfilled this week. Our voyage took us south to Petersburg and as far north as Glacier Bay National Park. Throughout our travels one thing has persisted: wildlife has the ability to captivate every person on board National Geographic Sea Bird.
Our morning was spent exploring the water and land of Pavlof Harbor. Once used for fish canning, salting and trading, the area has since been relinquished to beaver, bear, squirrel and frog. Hiking groups traveled along Pavlof Lake looking for signs of wildlife and enjoying views of Chichigof Island’s impressive mountains.
While others explored the ocean realm from the warmth of a cruising Zodiac or comfy kayak, Hotel Manager Michael Faruolo and I took to the depths in search of deeper wildlife. Descending amongst giant white-plumed anemones, we reached a sea floor strewn with shells abutting a large vertical rock face. With stable real estate in short supply, every inch of rocky substrate is covered with plant or animal in these waters.
People are often surprised with the amount of color to be found in Southeast Alaska, for example the purple crust of coralline algae contrasts nicely with the mellow yellow spines of a quillback rockfish. In assorted nooks and crannies we found everything from wolf eel to pink scallop. All other things aside, our goal for this dive was to find a giant Pacific octopus. As luck (and a little experience) would have it, signs of octopus could be seen everywhere and in one particular hole bedazzled with clam shells and crab carapaces we did find our prize.
With a watchful eye the octopus looked back at us as we gazed in with bright lights to capture the scene on film and in our internal memory. Back on the ship, guests seemed to genuinely enjoy the footage of beautifully colored invertebrates, shy fishes, pulsating jellies and an intelligent invertebrate presented during the evening’s recap.
You may be wondering “what happened this afternoon?” We had all the best intentions of visiting another beautiful bay to the south of Pavlof for a relaxing afternoon of Zodiac cruising, but four humpback whales distracted us to the point of canceling that operation. Today we ended a stunning week of exploration with the single-most impressive display of animal behavior on the planet. Today we were treated to cooperative feeding with tool use by fifty-foot mammals. With glassy waters and keen eyes were able to spot the curtain of bubbles that the humpbacks use as a tool to compress a school of herring into gulp-able densities.
Using a tool of our own, a hydrophone, we were able to amplify and broadcast the cry to arms given by one of the whales. With a high-pitched whooping scream the whales are signifying their dramatic ascent to the surface, mouths wide open and quarry soon to be captured, the whales all crash to the surface in unison, creating a flurry of foam and flying fish.
During a week that included two killer whale sightings (one of a predatory nature and the other during an amazing sunset), a swimming wolf, moose, bear and great sea lion action, we could not have ended this trip in any other way. Beware: it’s mid-summer in Southeast Alaska. Charge your batteries, empty your memory cards and sleep at your own risk.
