Iyoukeen Cove and Pavlof Harbor
We awoke early to a great surprise: a pod of about 20 killer whales swimming in the bay around the ship! We were on the east coast of Chichagof Island, and we had come here hoping to find humpback whales. We emerged on deck at 6:30 AM with coffee mugs, binoculars, and cameras in hand. Before breakfast, we even saw a bear on the shoreline.
The humpbacks were here indeed, and we listened to them breathe; now and then one of them ‘trumpeted’ (exhaled very loudly.) Eventually the killer whales left the bay and swam to the south, and we focused our attention on watching the humpback whales. Over the course of the morning, a group of 11-14 of them cooperated in a fantastic behavior called bubble net feeding. After we saw the tail flukes, we knew the whales must be in search of the herring school once again. We listened to the whales’ underwater feeding sounds by lowering a hydrophone into the water. The eerie sounds of the feeding song was followed again and again by the amazing sight of a dozen enormous, bulging, open mouths bursting through the green, bubbly water surface. Fifteen-foot long whale flippers then poked up through the water, while gulls circled over them, looking for leftover fish. It was truly exhilarating to watch.
Dr. Fred Sharpe visited from his research vessel, and he spoke to us about the studies he has done on this complex feeding behavior we were so lucky to find on our first morning. As he watched the whales with us, he could identify nearly all of them by sight; he has been studying them for 15 years.
In the afternoon we went ashore at Pavlof Harbor, where there is an active salmon spawning stream. Many of us walked along the stream, and got close looks at spawning pink salmon. We saw many signs that brown bears had recently been feeding. In fact, some of us were lucky enough to see two brown bears – an adolescent bear and a large brown bear actively catching salmon. Longer walkers adventured further, over through a forest edge, past a beaver lodge, and through a marsh and along a lake.
Some of us experienced Pavlof Harbor by water – via Zodiac, or quietly paddling kayaks. A harbor seal’s head surfaced now and then – it was probably catching salmon, too. Eagles, seals, spruce and hemlocks; nearly everything in the forest here is connected to these salmon returning from the ocean.
