Today we sailed into our second port, Juneau. Today's excursion was whale watching, but I'd been wavering back and forth about whether to keep or cancel it. Going on the trip meant skipping Juneau altogether -- we'd be out at Mendenhall Glacier and out on the water right up until our ship left, and wouldn't have time to see any of the city.
We'd also seen so many whales the past few days that I thought maybe the trip would be redundant. I voiced my concerns to Vicki, our resident marine biologist, who implored me not to cancel.
"You'll get a chance to see the whales a lot closer," she said, and since she was the expert, I listened.
The Wawerchaks, Stricklands, Edra and Monica were all booked for an early whale watch -- their tour started at 7:30 a.m. I knew there was no chance of getting Mark off the ship by that time, so I'd booked the 10:15 tour instead.
We rode the bus through the city, as our driver noted the points of interest. He nodded toward the public library, conveniently built into a five-story cement parking structure, and to the elementary hill built at the base of a mountain known for its frequent avalanches. He pointed out the Governor's Mansion, and said they had a vacancy coming out at the end of the month, so anyone interested should apply.
I'd been wondering how the Alaskans felt about the governor resigning so abruptly, and I got my first insight here. The driver said most people in Juneau liked the Governor well enough, until she tried moving the capital of Alaska from its current location to Anchorage instead. Since 60% of the local jobs were government jobs, people in Juneau didn't take too kindly to the prospect of losing them.
We drove past other notable Juneau landmarks, such as the salmon hatchery, which releases 15 million baby salmon into the river annually (6-7 million return).
Twenty minutes later, he dropped us off at the Mendenhall Glacier. It was pretty cool to see a glacier from land -- this one was huge, and gorgeous.
The Mendenhall Glacier
Apparently, there's some good hiking, but also a lot of bears. Absolutely NO food, drinks or dogs are allowed in the trails due to all the bears, and I was a bit anxious about that. The driver said it was no problem for me to take Mark's test kit and glucose tabs with me, but I left my backpack full of snacks on the bus just in case. I'd read that bears can smell up to 10 miles away, and I'd rather not test that theory!
We only had an hour, so we strolled around the grounds, then went up to the visitor's center. We learned why the ice is so blue (because of the pressure of all the compressed ice, and because when light hits the ice, all the colors except blue are absorbed). We saw an interesting film about the glacier, and learned that it moves about 250 feet per year.
The visitor' center also had some stuffed bears -- grizzly, black and brown bears. I swear, everywhere we go has more (real!) stuffed animals and furs on this trip than I ever imagined seeing. If you wanna strike it rich, become a taxidermist in Alaska.
We loaded back onto the bus and headed over to Auke Bay. I'd cut up some Dramamine tablets, and was holding one in my hand, wondering if I should give it to Mark. He saw it, said, "Oh, is that for me?" then grabbed and swallowed it before I could answer. (Note to self: ALWAYS opt for the childproof pill bottles from the pharmacy!)
The bus drove right down onto the pier, dropping us directly in front of the boats. We opted for the top deck, which had an outdoor viewing area.
The boat motored off, and I knew one of two phrases would immediately pop out of Mark's mouth: "I'm bored," or "I'm hungry." Hungry won out, and he devoured two granola bars and a hamburger before we even left the bay.
The water was smooth and calm, and it was ANOTHER amazingly sunny day. I'd brought our big coats, but soon enough, I was wishing I'd brought t-shirts instead.
The naturalist began the narration, and eight minutes into our tour, we saw our first whale. Turns out it was something unusual -- a sleeping whale. (Who knew whales even slept?) Apparently, they sleep for 8-10 minutes at a time, closing down half their brains. It's just enough to rest up before swimming off again.
Even more unusual was that the sleeper was a baby humpback! While we waited for the little babe to wake up, Mama surfaced a little ways away. She was doing what most moms do while their babies nap -- scarfing down a quick meal.
Pretty soon the baby woke up, and wanted to play. The mom and calf splashed around in the water, diving, surfacing and exhaling. Calves aren't as strong as the parents, so when the baby dove down, it couldn't quite flip its tail into the air in the signature humpback move. I did get a decent shot of the mom's tale, though.
Whale tail
We couldn't believe our luck. A rare sunny day, a sleeping whale, a mom and calf frolicking together. It was turning out to be a pretty cool day.
The captain had to follow the endangered species law, which stated that we couldn't get too close to the whales and we couldn't stay bother them for longer than 30 minutes. It was with much regret that we pulled away from the two, and headed farther out.
However, our captain spotted something very interesting in the water and raced over to it. Multiple whale spouts!
This was unusual because humpbacks are solitary creatures (unless they're with their calves). Or unless they are working together to gather food -- which meant, we were about to go National Geographic and see something I'll never forget!!
I counted five spouts, and was thrilled to think there were five humongous whales beneath us. Suddenly, they broke the surface, and we saw several more spouts.
"They're bubble net feeding!" the naturalist exclaimed, and I could tell she was as excited as I was to witness this.
Bubble net feeding is how whales work together to catch fish. Basically, they form a huge circle, and dive down into the ocean. The largest female female dives last, and once underwater, she lets out a really loud scream that frightens all the nearby herring. The other whales start blowing bubbles, which further confuses the fish, who gather up in a protective ball and swim toward the surface. The whales then open their mouths, swim toward the top and swallow everything they can, including up to 2000 pounds of water, which spills out their side gills.
The whales dove and surfaced a few times, and we kept a careful eye on them. We saw the spouts, the fins, and the tails as they dove back down again. We watched the seagulls above, who seemed to know where the whales would re-surface (they hovered above, waiting for leftovers). My camera never stopped clicking.
Suddenly, we heard the most incredible sound ever, a crashing sound, as the water parted and a wall of humpbacks shot into the air! I am not kidding you, it was seriously a WALL of whales, each of them 2/3rds out of the water! The force they shot out with was unbelievable -- these guys weigh up to 80,000 pounds each, and they came barrelling out as though someone had literally shot them through the water with a gun.
There was a collective gasp on the boat, followed by a collective scream of excitement/joy/disbelief. I'd like to say I captured the wall of whales on film, but honestly, I was too stunned. Instead, I immediately screamed, "OHMYGOD!"
I watched the giants crash back into the water, then then tried to scrape my jaw off the floor. At no point during that dance of the sea creatures did it occur to me to shoot some pictures. I was simply mesmerized by the sight of those whales.
The entire boat went ballistic after that. Everyone was giddy, giggling, hugging each other and asking, "Did you see THAT?" We all felt so fortunate to witness such a rare sight. The naturalist announced she'd counted 21 tails diving down after that -- and there may have been even more whales, since they don't all surface during the frenzy!
I pushed my way through the crowds to find Mark. However, I couldn't find him anywhere, until I stepped inside the cabin and found him on the bench, like this.
Slacker boy! The stinking kid was ASLEEP! I'd just witnessed the most incredible sight, and my kid slept right through it!
I tried waking him up to see the next feeding. He sat up long enough to see one whale break the surface and say, "Oh. A whale. Cool."
"Just wait," I told him. "In a minute, you'll see 20 more whales!" But he laid back down and immediately resumed his nap -- apparently, the Dramamine had kicked in, because that kid slept like the dead for the next three hours.
We watched the whales for another 20 minutes. They surfaced many more times, but never as high or impressive as they did that first time. I took loads of pictures, but they mostly all look like this -- shapeless black blobs breaking through the water.
Feeding frenzy Although there was one exception -- a full breach! As the whales surfaced at one point, one lone whale shot up and over the rest of the other whales. It jumped COMPLETELY out of the water! I'd never seen a whale fly before, and luckily I was quick enough to shoot it just as it ascended.
Hallelujah! Our naturalist was just beside herself with joy. She exclaimed that she'd grown up in Juneau and had never seen bubble net feeding and a full breach. "Just to tell how how rare this all is, the entire crew was outside with their cameras!" she told us.
Wow, I'm telling you...it was all so exciting that if there'd been a drink nearby, I'd have knocked it over for sure!
Before I knew it, our half hour was up, and we had to leave the feeding frenzy behind. I was so sad; there could not possibly be anything better than the humpbacks.
The captain took us to a little cove where there were some harbor seals resting. I didn't even uncap my camera; harbor seals are a dime a dozen where I'm from. I'd have only taken a picture if an orca jumped out right then and actually ATE one of the harbor seals! Now THAT would be worth photographing!
The captain then guided us toward the shore, on the lookout for bears. The island we floated past had a bear population of 90,000, but they it wasn't the right time of day to see any. (Maybe they all nap during the afternoon?) Even though I'd desperately searched for bears the whole trip, I could care less. Nothing was going to spoil my euphoria now!
We motored back into the bay, past a few more stray humpbacks. Just as we were pulling up to the dock, Mark rubbed his eyes and woke up.
"What'd I miss?" he asked, and I could only shake my head.
We arrived back at the ship just as the last stragglers were embarking. "Look up at the balconies," I told Mark. "I bet Grandma's looking for us, to make sure we get back on the boat on time." Sure enough, she was!
I couldn't wait to find Vicki and the other girls, and recount my experience. I ran into Edra and could barely spit out the words, "We saw whales -- bubble net feeding!"
"We did, too," she said, then continued with, "Now we're going to tea. Come on!"
So we did. I hadn't eaten lunch on the boat, so I was starving. I called my mom down to join us, and we dug into the cute little sandwiches and scones.
I told the group all about our trip, and listened as they shared a similar story. I was soooo glad they'd seen it, too -- the whole time I was on the boat, I kept thinking, "I CAN'T believe they all missed this!"
My parents had opted for a land excursion instead -- a lunch at the local salmon bake. Mom couldn't wait to tell us about her trip, so she asked if anyone had seen a bear today.
We all shook our heads no; we'd been on the bay.
"Well I did!" she cried, then told us the best story about how a mother bear and her two cubs walked RIGHT past my parents at the salmon bake. It seemed EVERYONE had and amazing day!
I can't even remember what happened the rest of that day or night. I'm sure we had dinner, and avoided the crappy dance show, but I can't really remember.
But I certainly never will forget those whales, that's for sure!
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