Image: A humpback whale breached near the boat.
2023 07-22 SB Channel
The high stratus was relentless but for a few small blue patches that the Alaskans call “sucker holes. Captain Dave and the crew traversed the Channel in search of wildlife, and this is what they we closely watched: 6 humpback whales, 3000 long-beaked common dolphins and 500 California sea lions.
There was not much action until we were 5 miles south of Platform Holly in the western Channel. We came upon an endless stream of dolphins along with noisy seabirds, sea lions, and, finally a whale. The whale was embedded in the dolphin pods as they moved around in search of prey. At one point, this whale dove, then abruptly came up and surprised everyone with a very close breach (see today’s photo for an example).
Dave moved 4 or 5 miles further to the southeast and found another mass of mammal and bird activity. This time we watched a total of 4 more whales, the first pair was a bit more cooperative while the last 2 singles had long dive times.
On the way home we slowed a bit to watch yet another humpback, but did not stop on it due to the time.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
CondorExpressPhotos.com
Humpbacks have such a wide range of surface acrobatics that are unpredictable and awesome. The cetacean species that knows how to make a splash!