July 16--Sea Lions, Whales, and Glaciers, Oh My!

This was one of the days that Alan and Joyce were both looking forward to…and dreading. Joyce and Alan had been looking forward to this tour for a long time, remembering the awesome cooperative feeding we saw 7 years ago while in Juneau. Could today match it?

All of the Dunnuck/Schaeffer/Welch clan was signed up for this tour. The day was overcast with a slight mist as we all started out. The bay was very calm, with an almost glassy look, much calmer than we remembered. We headed out in Auke Bay and hadn’t gone very far when we spotted our first spray from a whale blow. It was a humpback. We watched several minutes at the whale swam. We saw the back and tail several times.

We continued on and very soon spotted another whale. This whale came closer to the boat and we got several good pictures. After watching a while we preceded on. The naturalist narrating the trip reports he got a good look at the whale’s tail fin and was able to identify the whale as Sasha, a female whale that had been living year round in the area which is unusual as most humpbacks migrate between Hawaii and Alaska. The reason for staying in Alaska was unknown. He reported she often swam closer to boats than other whales.

We stopped and watched some sea lions vie for position on a harbor buoy. It was quite entertaining, and we were pretty close, though they still looked pretty small. We saw a lot of different birds and some nice scenery. There were a few more whales off in the distance as well, and we got to see a few flukes as they dove.

We had been out on the water for quite a while when Forst turned to Alan and said “looks like we didn’t see as many whales as you did the last time.” Before Alan could respond, Joyce and Sydney, sitting near the front window in the boat both pointed straight ahead and shouted “Whales!” We looked up and sure enough there were two whale blow spouts in front of us. Before Alan could even respond to that, he saw 5 spouts, grabbed his camera, and said, “I’m going upstairs.” Over the next 30 or 40 minutes we were treated to quite a spectacle.

Our naturalist has been studying humpback whales in Alaska and Hawaii for more than 5 years (though he looked to be all of 18!). He counted 16 humpbacks in this group. We knew that they were probably going to show us some of the communal bubble feeding that had amazed Alan and Joyce the last time. They didn’t disappoint.

Humpbacks are typically pretty solitary animals. While they all travel back and forth from Hawaii each year, they don’t have specific groups to swim with. They spend the summer eating in Alaska and then go to Hawaii in the winter to mate and have babies. In spite of their incredible size, humpbacks have a small throat and can’t swallow anything much larger than a small melon. Alan’s explanation of what we saw is that several meet up and say to each other “let’s do lunch!” They then work to find the nearest, tastiest bunch of herring that they can. Once they’ve found lunch, they then swim in spirals around the school of herring, blowing a bubble screen around the small fish. The little fish get confused and swim into a ball. Once the herring ball is served up, one of the whales swims up through the middle of the “bubble net” and scoops up the fish in its huge mouth. The 2-ton tongue then presses the fish up against its baleen comb at the front of the mouth, pushing the water out and leaving the tasty lunch. This whale swallows, and then they all go at it again, this time with some other whale as the chief beneficiary of the herring ball.

Of course we can’t see much of this action, since it happens below the surface. What we did see was the whales diving, with their flukes being the last thing we see sliding into the water. A few minutes later, clued by the bubbling water and circling birds (catching what crumbs the whales might leave behind), we see the mammoth heads of the whales punching through the surface. Many will then flip on to their side and wave their 10-feet fins in the air. There wasn’t a hydrophone on this boat to hear them “talk” to each other, but Alan and Joyce described the distinctive sounds they heard the last time they were here. All in all it was pretty amazing.

Our young naturalist was pretty pumped with the show. He goes out with tour groups a couple of times a day and said that he had only seen this particular behavior about 5 or 6 times. Alan and Joyce felt very privileged to have seen it both times they had been whale watching. Even more amazing was the naturalist’s statement that the current research seems to indicate that only about 100 humpbacks world-wide know how to do this communal feeding. Wow!

Well, after this high, we returned back to the boat for lunch in the buffet and made our plans for the afternoon. Sydney and Louise stayed on the boat, Sydney to attend the youth program and Louise to rest. The rest of the crew headed back into town. Forst, Alan, and Joyce hit the stores to pick up the next set of “free” things with their coupon books. Jon, Sandi, and Paul took the tram up Mount Roberts. They will need to write and tell you how it all happened. We do know that they really enjoyed the view, the hiking, and the fresh air high above Juneau.

Alan and Joyce returned to the boat for the next step in their adventure: a helicopter ride to the Mendenhall Glacier! For those of you familiar with Joyce’s flying history, you might find it hard to believe that a helicopter flight would be on her activity list, but a wonderful experience flying over the volcanoes in Hawaii a few years ago helped put this trip on the agenda. Alan was nervous about the weight requirement, especially since there was a substantial monetary penalty associated with it. He struggled with exactly how to answer the explicit weight question, especially since he had been eating cruise food for a few days and that it was unlikely that the would let him weigh in (un)dressed like he usually is after his shower at the Co-Rec. He decided to give his last known weight from the week before and take his chances. There was no problem!

Our helicopter had 4 passengers and the pilot, so there was an empty seat. After gearing up in specially studded boots for the ice on the glacier, we were put on the helicopter and gently lifted off. The scenery was gorgeous as our posse of three helicopters made our way up from the airport over the mountain. When we crested the mountain, the blue of the glacier came into view.

After a quick pass over the glacier, we came down to rest just as easily as we took off. We made our way across the ice to the American flag planted in the ice and then another guide took us over to the Alaskan flag to team us up with the other tourists from the other helicopters. We then spent about 30 minutes wandering around the glacier, getting instruction and information from our guides. We even had a chance to dip into one of the little streams flowing across the glacier to taste what fresh glacial water really tastes like. Believe it or not, it’s not like what you would get out of any bottle!

The whole experience of walking around the top of a glacier was pretty “other-worldly” and the cost and angst over weight were quickly forgotten. Alan and Joyce were glad they had the experience on their third Alaskan visit, and would encourage others to sacrifice a bit to do the same.

Well, the rest of the day was sort of anticlimactic, but should be documented nonetheless! Dinner dress was again “smart casual” and the menu theme was “Chef’s Choice”. The kids elected to eat in the buffet and attend the youth program, but it didn’t keep some of the adults from going to the kids menu for the “Volcano” for dessert. We think it was doing a good job of keeping Cesar and Joseph amused…that and keeping Joyce from using the pepper mill on the table. Those were among the running jokes that kept our waiters amused throughout the week.

Sandi and Jon took advantage of Joyce and Alan’s offer to watch the kids. Exactly what the elder Schaeffer’s did isn’t clear, but the rest of the crew watched a little television and chatted about cards, gold rush, and other things before the parents’ return for the night.

All in all it was a very good day!