Eliza Harbor, Frederick Sound and Saginaw Bay
This morning we awoke early to cruise up the narrow channel of Eliza Harbor where we found brown bears eating their breakfast along the shoreline. It was our first full day on the ship and already the charismatic mega-fauna were appearing, a sign of good things to come! We also saw several harbor seals hauled out on the rocks and many eagles perched along the way, including one who was hanging out on the channel marker. Another brown bear and her cub were spotted on our way back out of the channel. But the best was yet to come…
Just as lunch was ending, our expedition leader, Steve Zeff, announced that there were humpback whales cooperatively feeding just in front of the ship. Sure enough as we left our dessert and rushed to the deck, we were rewarded with multiple opportunities to see bubble net feeding in action! Wow! What an amazing sight! To enhance this experience, a hydrophone was dropped into the water and we heard the unforgettable sound of whales communicating with each other as they rose to the surface to feed.
Next up on the agenda of an already fully-packed day was kayaking and hiking in Saginaw Bay. The kayakers saw a smorgasbord of intertidal creatures, a sea otter and a mink fishing for their supper. The hikers enjoyed looking for fossils along the beach and learning about the geology of the area. Marine mammals continued to entertain us after dinner right up until the sunset.
This morning we awoke early to cruise up the narrow channel of Eliza Harbor where we found brown bears eating their breakfast along the shoreline. It was our first full day on the ship and already the charismatic mega-fauna were appearing, a sign of good things to come! We also saw several harbor seals hauled out on the rocks and many eagles perched along the way, including one who was hanging out on the channel marker. Another brown bear and her cub were spotted on our way back out of the channel. But the best was yet to come…
Just as lunch was ending, our expedition leader, Steve Zeff, announced that there were humpback whales cooperatively feeding just in front of the ship. Sure enough as we left our dessert and rushed to the deck, we were rewarded with multiple opportunities to see bubble net feeding in action! Wow! What an amazing sight! To enhance this experience, a hydrophone was dropped into the water and we heard the unforgettable sound of whales communicating with each other as they rose to the surface to feed.
Next up on the agenda of an already fully-packed day was kayaking and hiking in Saginaw Bay. The kayakers saw a smorgasbord of intertidal creatures, a sea otter and a mink fishing for their supper. The hikers enjoyed looking for fossils along the beach and learning about the geology of the area. Marine mammals continued to entertain us after dinner right up until the sunset.
