Capturing the Moment

The Northern Lights     Even though I am in the northernmost state of the United States, and even though I was expecting to see amazing things this summer in Alaska, for some reason I wasn’t convinced that I would be seeing the Aurora Borealis, more commonly known as the “Northern Lights.” But here we are, week one of the Alaska season and we have seen them twice! Well, some people saw it twice…    Day two of our weeklong adventure cruise between Ketchikan and Juneau the passengers were awoken in the wee morning hours by the on-duty mate to a call for Northern Lights.  Unfortunately I was either not awakened…or too tired from working too hard. Needless to say I was pretty bummed that I missed them, but very excited that most of the guest were able to witness it. Some guest grabbed some great pictures as well. I crossed my fingers that we would not only have another clear night, but that the light show would happen again.   Day three was it. It w...

  I still can't believe it. We had a couple of very clear nights last week as we sailed the Safari Quest through Southeast Alaska. Not only did that bring some beautiful sunsets, but one night it brought something even rarer, Aurora Borealis!    To see the Northern Lights you need a combination of factors. You need a clear night sky, darkness, and a perfectly timed release of charged particles by the sun. There are a few apps out there that are getting better at predicting the chances and intensity of the northern lights, however just getting a clear night sky is a task in itself here in Alaska. It is the rainforest, which means low hanging clouds almost all the time. Plus it is still summer, so the days are long, and the nights not very dark.   Our night deckhand shocked me with a midnight wake up call for northern lights. I lept out of bed, threw on my clothes, grabbed my camera and bolted up on deck. I was amazed further at the intensity of the lights. The...

   In my Alaska experience I've only ever seen the Aurora Borealis in late April or September. Those months are the very beginning and the very ending of our Alaska cruising season. My boat this year is running British Columbia trips in those months and Alaska only from late May to late August. So I had accepted the fact that I wouldn't see the northern lights this year. But here you go, northern lights in early August!      This was at 12:30 in the morning when the sky is at its darkest. During the peak of the summer season it is still too light to see the northern lights even at this hour. But each day gets a little shorter so if everything works out...a solar storm, no clouds, a dark night....and Aurora that reaches this far south...then the impossible suddenly become possible. Thankfully we have someone up 24hrs a day on the boat to keep everyone safe...and to make sure we don't miss anything like this!  Check out all my other encounters with t...

   I would have never guessed that my welcome back to Alaska would include close bear enconters, several pods of orca, some lingering humpback whales, and a beautiful display of the Northern Lights!  I was awoken early in the morning, around one am, to the voice of one of our deckhands quietly waking me up for the northern lights. Then he said they would like me to make the announcement to everyone over the loudspeaker to wake everyone else up. So I conjured up my most melodic, middle of the night voice and told everyone to get their butts outside! The light show started off pretty beautiful but got better and better and the morning went on. Some of my best pictures came around 2:30am after almost everyone had gone back to bed.   This was only my second time seeing the Northern Lights and it was just as incredible as the first time. We were so lucky to get a rare clear night at a time with the lights were visible. Lets hope that luck continues for my last thr...

Aurora borealis Aurora near Juneau, Alaska The Aurora borealis in all of its glory showed up on my very last night in Alaska. I was wrapping up a wonderful week-long trip including bears, humpbacks, calving glaciers, and ice gardens, but it seemed that Alaska wanted to send me out with a bang.   Around 12:30am our deckhand woke me up with the message of Northern Lights. As the expedition leader I am who gets to wake up and make the call to either wake up all of the passengers if its good, or let them sleep if its not. Either way it usually means a long night. So I put on some warm clothes, splashed some water on my face, and walked up on deck to a very mediocre show of the Northern Lights. But it was good enough so I made the announcement for people to get up and outside. As the passengers started trickling sleepily out of the cabins the lights dimmed a bit, but then to my great pleasure they came back with a vengeance. They became started dancing across the sky, almost li...

This post will be like my ' year in reviews ' but instead will feature one season of running trips up in Alaska's Inside Passage and all the 'best of' highlights of the season. Best Ice Encounter : Top Left- Huge calving events at Dawes Glacier   Top Right- Ice sculptures stranded on the rocky shoreline at the Le Conte Ice Garden     Bottom Left- Standing inside a cave under a glacier made entirely of dense glacial ice  Bottom Right- Skiffing into a lake of ice at Baird Glacier Read about these events here: Witnessing a Calving Glacier with video , Le Conte Ice Gardens , Skiffing into an Ice Lake ,     Mendenhall Ice Caves   Best Polar Plunges : Left - Family from Savannah about to feel water slightly colder than their normal 85 degrees   Right - My crewmate Shannon took this picture at the perfect time capturing my backflip on the second deck in front of Dawes Glacier. You can read about it here: Polar Plunge...

daimarsphotos.com  It is time to say goodbye to Alaska for another season, and it said goodbye to us in epic fashion. The weather was beautiful, the seas were calm, there was a plethora of wildlife, and the adventures ran thick. Our guests were excited and eager to answer the call of the wilderness that only Alaska can provide.      On Baranof Island along a tranquil rocky stream we watched as 15 different bears spent time chasing salmon, or each other, trying to get their fill. A few times some of the younger bears looked like they were heading out way, but we remained safe and sound ontop of the river bank. www.daimartamarack.com   Back out on the water we had multiple encounters with feeding humpback whales. We watched from the bow of the Quest as the fading light of day backlit the blows of one group. Then the next day we sped off on our small zodiac skiffs to get a closer look at bubble net feeding humpbacks.    After the bubb...