This last glorious day of the trip was marked by whale sightings in the beginning and end, with bears in the middle! Our morning wake-up call was at 6 a.m. with whales close to the decks of National Geographic Sea Bird. We all watched groups of humpback whales surfacing, fluking, and diving down as yoga stretchers saluted them in a morning welcome.
After breakfast, we found ourselves near Freshwater Bay in Pavlof Harbor. Here, expedition landing craft cruises approached the salmon stream, where coastal brown bears were fishing for pink salmon. The stunning view of the falls and bears fishing captured our photography and hearts, as we were truly mesmerized in our experience of an authentic southeast Alaska.
After lunch, we were able to relive some of our earlier explorations of the week with the sneak peek video that Sarah Culler, video chronicler, assembled for remembrance of the trip. Featuring highlights of an Alaska full of wildlife and glacial ice. Immediately after the teaser, a feeding frenzy of about six bubblenet feeding humpback whales was spotted. Everyone spent hours outside on the decks watching and learning from these giants of the sea, with commentary by Pete Pederson. During an afternoon presentation, Gretchen Pederson, gave us a vivid, factual, and exhilarating understanding of the distinction and life of bears sprinkled with personal photos and stories of her developing love for these large furry creatures.
The finale of our afternoon was a humpback whale that gave us incredible and close displays of breaching out of the water. Then we had a fantastic slideshow of the week’s pictures, captain’s dinner, and farewell speeches.
It was an exciting last day of an incredible voyage!
