Watching Killer Whales in Endicott Arm
How to end a brilliant week – with a brilliant day!
This one began early with a bear sighting. We’ve been fortunate to have seen plenty of bears, but this was a new one – a black bear. True to form, this bear was in the intertidal zone, eating barnacles off of rocks.
We traveled on into Endicott Arm. This fjord, rent into tough granite, is deep, with soaring walls towering above. We entered the mouth of Ford’s Terror, and saw the tidal rapids that give it its name. Here the falling tide had stranded a berg bigger than any that we had yet seen. Gulls perched from the pinnacle of a pearl and sapphire mountain.
We turned and headed for the iceberg’s source, but soon got a radio call from a friendly boat – they had spotted killer whales nearby! Spinning the ship, we were soon in pursuit. And in a short while we found them – a group of about six whales swimming together, with another half-dozen or so paralleling them across the fjord. Interestingly, there are two types of killer whales on the Northwest Coast – those that hunt salmon, and those that eat sea mammals. Killer whales regularly visit Endicott Arm to hunt seals, but these puzzled us. Their numerousness and frequent surfacings were piscivorous in style. Lowering our hydrophone settled the question. Fish-eaters are a sing-songy lot, while red-meat hunters are necessarily taciturn. With whales frolicking by the boat, we heard not a chirp – these were the bad boys. We cruised with the whales for quite a while, and had wonderful views of them.
At the end of Endicott Arm lies the Dawes Glacier. This glacier, still in rapid retreat, stands in deep water and calves many big bergs. We launched kayaks and Zodiacs to have an intimate experience with the ice. Great walls of rock, polished and fluted by the ice’s passage, rose steeply all around us. The water, a milky jade green, reflected the cheery sun. Rounded valleys gushed with chalky melt water. Bergs were in every form. Some looked like mountain ranges, or threatening ramparts. Others swam like albino whales or delicate swans. Zodiacers neared the glacier, and were rewarded with some mighty calvings.
And at last, after good wine, after rich salmon and beef, after tasty bread and sumptuous chocolate cake, we found a citrus sky waiting for us. How to end a brilliant day – with a brilliant sunset!
How to end a brilliant week – with a brilliant day!
This one began early with a bear sighting. We’ve been fortunate to have seen plenty of bears, but this was a new one – a black bear. True to form, this bear was in the intertidal zone, eating barnacles off of rocks.
We traveled on into Endicott Arm. This fjord, rent into tough granite, is deep, with soaring walls towering above. We entered the mouth of Ford’s Terror, and saw the tidal rapids that give it its name. Here the falling tide had stranded a berg bigger than any that we had yet seen. Gulls perched from the pinnacle of a pearl and sapphire mountain.
We turned and headed for the iceberg’s source, but soon got a radio call from a friendly boat – they had spotted killer whales nearby! Spinning the ship, we were soon in pursuit. And in a short while we found them – a group of about six whales swimming together, with another half-dozen or so paralleling them across the fjord. Interestingly, there are two types of killer whales on the Northwest Coast – those that hunt salmon, and those that eat sea mammals. Killer whales regularly visit Endicott Arm to hunt seals, but these puzzled us. Their numerousness and frequent surfacings were piscivorous in style. Lowering our hydrophone settled the question. Fish-eaters are a sing-songy lot, while red-meat hunters are necessarily taciturn. With whales frolicking by the boat, we heard not a chirp – these were the bad boys. We cruised with the whales for quite a while, and had wonderful views of them.
At the end of Endicott Arm lies the Dawes Glacier. This glacier, still in rapid retreat, stands in deep water and calves many big bergs. We launched kayaks and Zodiacs to have an intimate experience with the ice. Great walls of rock, polished and fluted by the ice’s passage, rose steeply all around us. The water, a milky jade green, reflected the cheery sun. Rounded valleys gushed with chalky melt water. Bergs were in every form. Some looked like mountain ranges, or threatening ramparts. Others swam like albino whales or delicate swans. Zodiacers neared the glacier, and were rewarded with some mighty calvings.
And at last, after good wine, after rich salmon and beef, after tasty bread and sumptuous chocolate cake, we found a citrus sky waiting for us. How to end a brilliant day – with a brilliant sunset!
