Humpbacks and Orcas in Southeast Alaska

 Frederick Sound is a large body of water in Alaska's inside passage which acts as a confluence zone for all the water coming in from Chatham Strait and Stephen's Passage. A lot of nutrients are swept into the area which in turn brings in the plankton, small fish, and eventually the big charismatic mega-fauna. This is why we planned a half day of cruising and looking for wildlife in Frederick Sound.

    We woke up to a good sign, not so far off blows of humpbacks. Things really heated up as we left our anchorage and venture out into the sound. Humpbacks could be seen for miles around with their hot, steamy exhalations lingering in the cool Alaskan air.
   
     Then, as hard as it might be to believe, the humpbacks were upstaged. All of a sudden on the horizon a huge dorsal fin emerged out of the water. It was a pod of orcas heading our direction! We stayed with the orcas for a good part of the morning watching them interact with the humpbacks and at one point swim over to interact with the boat! They surfaced just off our port side before sliding just under the water and under our bow. It was my best orca encounter yet. Even in the dark nutrient filled water we could still see the bright white patches of the orcas when they were that close.

    To top everything off we even had whales come join us during our afternoon activities. We were anchored off of Cape Fanshaw to offer hiking, snorkeling, and kayaking excursions. I took out one of the guided kayaks and we ended up being surrounded by feeding whales. At one point a whale swam under our drifting kayaks and started blowing bubbles. I became a little nervous when the bubbles continued to form a perfect circle intersecting my kayak and encircling one of the guest kayaks. Luckily no guest were scooped up by a hungry humpback whale.