What a spectacular day of viewing the truly wild Alaskan wildlife! After an incredible show by a breaching humpback whale calf before breakfast, we continued cruising to reach Pavlof Harbor and all the while were surrounded by humpbacks on all sides.
When we reached Pavlof, we were treated to an incredible bear viewing via the ship’s Zodiacs. As we silently snuck up the salmon stream, we observed no less than six brown bears including a sow and two healthy cubs. It was amazing to see how the mother bear never let any of the males get near her cubs, and how two of the males wrestled and playfully fought each other in the pools under the waterfall. There were so many pink and chum salmon that sometimes the bears didn’t even have to move from where they were seated in order to catch and eat one. Surprisingly, a rustle in the bushes to our port side soon revealed another young male brown bear that emerged from the forest, looked at us curiously, and then went on its way towards the salmon stream.
Finally, as we said adieu to Pavlof Harbor and made our way towards the Inian Islands, we had to pause our dinner when we were interrupted by an active group of almost a dozen bubble-netting humpback whales!
