We rode down the Kenai Peninsula in a bus under cloudy skies. We boarded a catamaran in Seward and proceeded out to Resurection Bay. This was our third trip to tidewater glaciers, and the only time when the gloomy overcast persisted.
Our captain was very talkative and she got us quickly to Rugged Island, where we lingered to watch a pod of fin whales who lazily blew and dove repeatedly. This pod has apparently been hanging around the bay this summer and I'm guessing she's seen them before and was in communication with the captain of another tour boat that was also observing the whales because she headed straight for them for 20 minutes.
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| Fin Whale |
These are huge whales, and I have some shots with at least three animals together. The National Park Service posted online that they've seen as many as six of them.
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| Two Fin Whales Blowing |
Once it seemed they went deep, a humpback whale appeared, repeatedly blowing and diving . It eventually showed its fluke, indicating the start of a deep dive, but then the fin whales reappeared, so we watched them a while longer. Eventually we moved on to another pair of humpbacks, including one that was repeatedly smacking its pectoral fins on the water with huge splashes that were clearly audible. This trip reinforced something that I already knew: it's hard to shoot an animal that has most of its body under water. I've previously tried to photograph manatees and beavers, with limited success because there's hardly anything above the water. Add the difficulty of shooting from a moving boat, one that's also pitching and rolling, and it's just about impossible to keep the horizon line level. So, I have some action shots that don't show much, and the horizons are all off.
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| Humpback Whale Extending its Pectoral Fin |
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| Slamming the Water |
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| Starting a Deep Dive |
We proceeded to more islands where we watched puffins. I had always wondered how they could fly with such stubby wings. Answer: not well. It looked more like an uncontrolled fireworks rocket than a graceful flight. They beat their wings so fast that they look frantic. One seemed to have eaten so much that it couldn't lift off from the water; it kept skipping like a stone, repeatedly lifting a few inches above the water then bouncing off the surface again and again. They flitted around us everywhere. The poor light, their small size and eratic flight, and black and white plumage made them difficult subjects. Add the rolling motion of the boat, and the result is only a few barely usable images.
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| Puffins in Flight |
It was a bit easier to get shots of the birds on land.
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| Puffins on the Rocks |
As we exited Aialik Bay, we stopped to check out the Steller Sea lions who had hauled out in large numbers on a rocky island. They were really loud, with two males vocalizing to establish dominance.
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| Steller Sea Lions Facing Off |
And then the show was over as we headed back to Seward. This was one of my favorite outings of the whole trip to Alaska, bested only by the day in Tracy Arm.
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