Baranof Island & Chatham Strait, Alaska
There are many special encounters which Southeast Alaska can provide, but it is a rare and memorable day when so many are bestowed in one phenomenal 24 hour period.
Despite a forecast of rains, our first full day dawned with only pillows of tumbling white clouds and vast patches of cerulean sky. We disembarked our dependable Zodiacs near the mouth of an important salmon stream flowing out of Lake Eva on the Northeast corner of Baranof. We quickly entered the lush moss-festooned spruce and hemlock forest, the trail paralleled a series of pristine pools and roaring cataracts. Bright shafts of light cut through the cathedral like trees illuminating coral root orchids, deer heart lilies, dwarf dogwood, and shy maiden flowers punctuating the normally dark forest floor. Although pink and chum salmon were just beginning their spawning runs, several were seen executing tremendous leaps up the cascades. Belted Kingfishers rattled their way up stream as well while Bald Eagles circled overhead waiting for the spawning run to reach its peak. The quiet, lush, sun-drenched forest heightened the reverential feel of our first encounter with old growth. Our spirits charged and our senses expanded, we felt little could top our inspiring first morning in Alaska.
After lunch we turned south into Chatham Strait and spotted tall black daggers slicing the calm waters in the distance. Soon we were surrounded by a playful pod of Killer Whales. While larger older brothers kept their distance, the younger members of the matriarchal extended family caroused for hours, breaching, turning somersaults, percussive fluke slapping, and otherwise engaged in frolic peculiar to members of the dolphin family. Lowering a hydrophone allowed us to eavesdrop on their squeals and whistles of delight. The calm waters and craggy peaks of Admiralty Island provided a perfect panorama for their porpoising performance.
While we could have spent the entire afternoon with these carefree cetaceans, larger, more distant “blows”. Reluctantly we parted from the Orca to cruise back across Chatham Strait to investigate the shoreline of Baranof Island again. We were not disappointed by our decision. In short order we joined a busy gam of 9 humpback whales. These individuals were recently returned from breeding grounds off Baja California and Hawaii. And after a prolonged winter fast they seemed focused on feeding off the largess of these fecund fjords. In a choreographed fashion they gracefully elevated their tremendous flukes and dove. To our delight they soon dramatically broke the surface with monstrous mouths agape, baleen dangling, and herring jumping chaotically from their maws. For the next few hours we watched the same remarkable “cooperative feeding” performed over and over. Nearby on the shoreline a sow and young cub leisurely examined beach wrack, uninterested in our hoots of delights or the commotion of lunging leviathans.
There are many special encounters which Southeast Alaska can provide, but it is a rare and memorable day when so many are bestowed in one phenomenal 24 hour period.
Despite a forecast of rains, our first full day dawned with only pillows of tumbling white clouds and vast patches of cerulean sky. We disembarked our dependable Zodiacs near the mouth of an important salmon stream flowing out of Lake Eva on the Northeast corner of Baranof. We quickly entered the lush moss-festooned spruce and hemlock forest, the trail paralleled a series of pristine pools and roaring cataracts. Bright shafts of light cut through the cathedral like trees illuminating coral root orchids, deer heart lilies, dwarf dogwood, and shy maiden flowers punctuating the normally dark forest floor. Although pink and chum salmon were just beginning their spawning runs, several were seen executing tremendous leaps up the cascades. Belted Kingfishers rattled their way up stream as well while Bald Eagles circled overhead waiting for the spawning run to reach its peak. The quiet, lush, sun-drenched forest heightened the reverential feel of our first encounter with old growth. Our spirits charged and our senses expanded, we felt little could top our inspiring first morning in Alaska.
After lunch we turned south into Chatham Strait and spotted tall black daggers slicing the calm waters in the distance. Soon we were surrounded by a playful pod of Killer Whales. While larger older brothers kept their distance, the younger members of the matriarchal extended family caroused for hours, breaching, turning somersaults, percussive fluke slapping, and otherwise engaged in frolic peculiar to members of the dolphin family. Lowering a hydrophone allowed us to eavesdrop on their squeals and whistles of delight. The calm waters and craggy peaks of Admiralty Island provided a perfect panorama for their porpoising performance.
While we could have spent the entire afternoon with these carefree cetaceans, larger, more distant “blows”. Reluctantly we parted from the Orca to cruise back across Chatham Strait to investigate the shoreline of Baranof Island again. We were not disappointed by our decision. In short order we joined a busy gam of 9 humpback whales. These individuals were recently returned from breeding grounds off Baja California and Hawaii. And after a prolonged winter fast they seemed focused on feeding off the largess of these fecund fjords. In a choreographed fashion they gracefully elevated their tremendous flukes and dove. To our delight they soon dramatically broke the surface with monstrous mouths agape, baleen dangling, and herring jumping chaotically from their maws. For the next few hours we watched the same remarkable “cooperative feeding” performed over and over. Nearby on the shoreline a sow and young cub leisurely examined beach wrack, uninterested in our hoots of delights or the commotion of lunging leviathans.
