Seward

Kenai Fjords National Park tour today. Unfortunately we don’t have the sunny day we had yesterday. Overcast, but no rain in the forecast. We head to the Bakery we stopped at yesterday for breakfast since they had a pretty good enu aside from baked goods.

We board the tour boat at 10:00AM for a full day tour including lunch and dinner at Fox island on the return trip. On the trip south we see seals and goats along the shore. Stop at the Holgate Glacier which ends in te Aialik Bay.  Lots of small pieces of ice floating around. The crew retrieves a couple pieces for the kids on the boat..

After lunch we got lucky.  We see some whales in the distance and slowly move in their direction.  Suddenly we witness Bubble-Net feeding of a group of Humpback Whales. Over the next hour or so we see the group of whales do this about 5 times. 

Bubble-net feeding, Humpback whales rising to surface in a circle driving schools of herring

"Not all humpback whales bubble-net feed, this is a learned behavior exhibited by a limited number of humpback whales. Researchers believe only 12 individual whales in southeast Alaska lead the groups performing this wildlife spectacle."  This choreography is preceded by auditory communications, which we could hear from the hydro-phone lowered in the water by the captain. 

These humpback whales seasonally migrate from Hawaii and don't feed in route. Their arrival is timed to coincide with the arrival of schools of high calorie herring which they can quickly gorge on.

We stop at Fox island late in the afternoon and all the passengers go ashore for an excellent buffet dinner.

Fox Island dinner

Our route today

Back in the harbor

We return to Seward around 6:30Pm and drive north toward Anchorage. We stay overnight at a National Forest Service Campground, Tenderfoot Campground, $12 dollars with our National Park Pass. Nice to still have all this daylight since it is almost 9PM when we get there.

Our good fortune in witnessing this was due to Linda's sister, Sabrina E. Ward, joining us on this tour.  We started the morning from Seward with S.E.Ward.

A little photo editing