In the spirit of exploration, National Geographic Sea Bird pulled into Jackson Passage, a beautiful spot in British Columbia, to view whales and invertebrates from expedition landing crafts and kayaks. In the afternoon, thanks to rough seas and the motion of the ocean, we were all well reminded we were on a boat. A highlight of the day: diving in a new place and finding some beautiful—albeit small—hidden gems, right underneath the kayakers.
5/10/2025
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National Geographic Sea Bird
Tracy Arm
As we continued our way north through Alaska, we had a favorite stop of mine in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness. We had a rainy day, which I enjoy because we can see at higher elevations since the rain turns to snow and, in turn, the snow feeds the absorption zone of the Sawyer Glaciers. We went out in the Zodiacs and navigated around the icebergs and bergy bits, even collecting a piece for the ice melt-off challenge. Once underway out of Tracy Arm, we saw some humpback whales. One whale had an entanglement of line on its fluke. The line was causing an obvious cut to the marine mammal. The correct authorities were notified about the condition of the whale and location of the sighting. Hopefully the whale will be assisted soon and the entanglement removed. Several other humpbacks were seen shortly after, luckily no entanglements on these. They were demonstrating surface feeding behavior, with one lunge feeding and the other making bubbles to catch its prey.
