Capturing the Moment

   During our final trip of the 2017 Alaska season we set a course all the way from Juneau to Seattle. After we left Alaskan waters south of Ketchikan and entered the British Columbia section of the inside passage I didn't expect to get any mind blowing wildlife sightings, maybe a few whales or porpoise here or there. Then, just as I am finishing up a presentation I get the word that there is some kind of wildlife up ahead, small but numerous. I figured it was porpoise but in the back of my mind I was hoping it was a species of dolphins that we don't see at all in Alaska, and that is exactly what it was!   For some reason pacific white sided dolphins have always been one of my favorites. Their beautiful markings and contrasting coloration make them stand above other dolphins. Their tall falcated dorsal fin with its telltale patch of off white is like a beacon to identify them with. But despite their outside beauty trying to steal the show, it is quite often their ac...

A little too close Ice berg sculptures   Twice a year I am able to take my boat into the fabled Le Conte Ice Garden. You can read about my other visits to this ice garden and another here: Ice Garden Posts and Pictures.  Success!    Le Conte Ice Garden is located about 12 miles away from the calving face of the southernmost tidewater glacier in Alaska. Just outside of Petersburg, AK ice floating away from this glacier chokes up the mouth of the fjord as it gets grounded around the shallow bar created by the terminal moraine of where the glacier once was. My intrepid group of explorers 'Looking thru the ice'   Our goal for today was to skiff around some of the big grounded ice bergs, marveling at the shapes and deep hues of blue, before checking out some of the ice left high and dry by the extreme low tide. This was to coincide with the eclipse although the rainy cloudy conditions made the eclipse unseeable. Fortunately overcast conditio...

Like a painting   I've been watching this family of bears for a couple years now. The cubs are just about that age where they are ready to move on from their mother's side. They are rambunctious and even a little bratty towards other bears. I saw more than once the mom swat at them after she caught a salmon and they charged in to share the spoils. Tough love I guess. Climbing the old salmon ladder Mom and cubs    This latest encounter was at the waterfall on Pavlof stream, on Chichagof Island. Being one of the ABC islands, Chichagof has a dense population of brown bears. This time of year they all congregate around salmon streams to feast on the returning fish. They need all the calories they can get to make it through their winter dormancy. Eyes on me    It is always amazing to be out in the wild, with no one else around, witnessing a wildlife spectacle. Running tours on a boat in Southeast Alaska allows me the flexibility to do things l...

Capable teeth of a Steller's Sea Lion  Often when we see Steller's Sea Lions they are acting as the top dog. However, there is always something bigger out there...as the old saying goes. And we found that something today. I could see it from far off, a large black fin cutting through the surface. This could mean only one thing...orca! Spy Hop   When we got nearer to the orca I noticed some weird behavior from our starboard side. It looked like something was coming up to the surface but not breaking the surface enough to show itself. It seemed to be sea lion sized in the amount of water that it was moving but not how a sea lion would normally come up for a breath.  Finally we confirmed that there was a sea lion in the vicinity when it darted right under our ship. The orca didn't seem to mind or want to follow it. They were getting very playful by grouping up together, spyhopping, and even breaching a few times. Playful Orca near the boat  The ...

Discoveries along the way Through a patch of devils club   One part of my job this season up in Alaska is taking guests out in the bush where there is no dock, no trail except those left by game, and no real destination or goal other than to immerse ourselves in the temperate rain forest and explore. We call this bushwhacking, and it is a favorite past time for people who live in and around the forest. You can blaze you own trails and find new discoveries on every trip. I don't carry a machete because I don't want to leave a trail of destruction behind us, but I do carry bear spray.    One big aspect of bushwhacking or hiking in Alaska is that you are walking through bear country. Luckily humans are not on the normal menu so it's not like bears are stalking you as you walk. If anything they want to get out of your path or just hunker down and hide until you are gone. I make plenty of noise so as not to startle any bears, and to make sure that moms with cubs ar...

   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...

Breaching whale in sunset colors whale pictures   As I finished up my evening presentation aboard the Safari Quest a crew member hurried in to tell me there is whale activity ahead. I let the guests know and hustled to get my camera and headed to the bow. It turned out to be a repetitive breaching humpback whale.    It has been unusually sunny and clear these last few days and we have been lucky with some pretty amazing sunsets. This night combined breaching whales with that magical sunset hour light. Usually once a season I get a whale here in Alaska that breaches over and over and over. This was that whale. All around the boat it breached as it made its way off into the golden setting sun. Alaska Sunset Alaska Moonrise  When we finally turned the boat to continue heading east I was greeted with another unusual sight for Alaska, a full moon rise. At first it was just a silver sliver behind the mountain tops. I was lucky to still have my camera ...