Alaska
AUGUST, 2009

Duration: 8 days
Destinations: Alaska

Due to the nature of the region, we work on an open itinerary with your seasoned skipper Ronn, and Darran maximising your opportunities. The following information will help you to appreciate the many opportunities available.

While our ship is not large, it is very sturdy and importantly can get us into places that the larger boats can not due to water depth. I can not stress enough how great it is to travel with just 8 other photographers with the sole purpose of photography and enjoying the environment. Who wants to waist time in a bunk anyway ...

From Petersburg you will quickly travel into Frederick Sound and into the heart of Southeast Alaska! A major focus here will be the incredible breaching, resting, lunging and bubble-net feeding humpback whales. In this area during the summer, there are an estimated 300 individually identified humpbacks, at one time, all actively feeding! And many are bubble-net feeding: blowing a helix of bubbles underwater that rises to the surface as a wall, surrounding and entrapping the prey. At the surface it appears as a continuing ring of bubbles. Most incredible of all, it is as if the humpbacks were indicating exactly where they were going to appear next—right in the center of the circle—sometimes in an explosive leap!

It is both easy and exciting to just be around the humpbacks, hour after hour, as they alternately feed and rest. It is also possible to record their summer vocalizations, trumpeting and “bulging” used to co-ordinate group feeding and possibly to concentrate their prey! The whales also exhibit a unique feeding strategy known as “lunge feeding”; forty tons of whale lunging out of the water after krill and herring. And you’ll be right there to photograph and cheer them on! Often these “gentle giants” show no fear of small boats, being perhaps as curious of you as you are of them!

Orcas also regularly visit Frederick Sound. It is a part of the territory of the resident “J-pod of the North.” They are as playful, shore-loving, friendly, curious and as easy to be with as the J-pod of Puget Sound. Transient Orcas who feed on other marine mammals also frequently uses it. Dalls porpoise and harbor porpoise are also resident. The former like to bow-ride and rooster-tall — zip through the water so fast as to send up a spray of water like a rooster tail! Sea lions and harbor seals are resident too, and both have a rookery on several islands.

Another major highlight is observing foraging brown bears and their playful cubs. These are full size coastal grizzlies, approximately 30 percent larger than interior grizzlies. The spot is a creek mouth near the north end of Admiralty Island, and it is simply one of the best places anywhere on earth to watch grizzly bears. And the bears are sometimes only minutes away from bow-riding Dall’s porpoises and feeding humpbacks.

As we cruise, the splendor continues to unfold. Always some new angle, some new light: sunny, misty, sunny again; broken clouds, scattered clouds, overcast, clear; sunrises and sunsets that go on for hours providing outstanding photo opportunities! Each evening brings another chance to fish, and fresh fish can be served for dinner. We also can go ashore each day to explore new places, to discover new flowers, pick fresh berries, sit awhile and contemplate. The days are very full, and life in Southeast Alaska is very rich. We are in the very heart and spirit of this region.

After Pack Creek, you will cruise back through Frederick Sound and the very best humpback whales area in route to Anan Creek, via the navigationally and scenically interesting Wrangle Narrows. Anan Creek is simply the best place to witness Black Bears in their own habitat. Anan Creek also hosts a wonderful old growth forest, waterfalls and a salmon stream! Eagles and other wildlife abound. From here you will cruise to Kasaan, a native village with an incredible totem pole park and a traditional long house on the old village site.

After your experiences here, you will travel to Ketchikan, another hard working town, but also a major tourist destination. Partly because of this, there are a number of interesting things to see including three totem parks. There is a town museum with its own totems, and an interesting waterfront. Several of our photo workshops have also stopped here to photograph. You may very well wish to spend an extra day here before departing.

Accommodation: Ship
Transport: Ship