Alaska with the Family Day 4: Orcas and Saook Bay

 It was early in the morning when our boat, the Wilderness Legacy, slowed down. We were North in Chatham Strait, and I knew the only reason to stop was for a wildlife sighting. Sure enough, it was a pod of orca, and playful ones at that.

Anytime you get to see orca, also known as killer whales, it is going to be a treat. They can travel 100 miles in a day, they could pass by silently at night, or across the other side of the straight. It is so easy to miss them, but not this day. They put on a show of tail slaps, swimming upside down, and even breaching out of the water. I was lucky enough to time a photo just right to catch a breaching orca in action.

After a big brunch onboard, complete with mimosas and bloody mary's, it was time to explore the back bay of Saook. Catalina and I took off on a skiff tour where we found an eagle in a nest, and some fun crabs off the low tide rock.

The real treat came with our next activity, the open paddle. Heidi took out Fisher and I took Catalina. We had the entire back bay to paddle and explore. We made it a little up the river before being rebuked by the safety boat. It was just so nice to be all out together, going at our own pace. On the way ba ckanother one of the skiffs zipped up and delivered some handcrafted cocktails. Susie had just enough time to jump on a stand up paddle board and glide above the cold Alaskan water in perfect silence before activities wrapped up for the afternoon. 

Back onboard, cruising north, we found more marine life. This time it was Dall's porpoise. These are one of the only porpoise species that enjoys riding the bow wave created by boats. We all enjoyed a bit of bowriding porpoise and then cruises into the setting sun... finally around 10:30 at night.