Watching
a (50 ton?) humpback whale from a kayak is - EXCITING!
Kayaking
with humpback
whales near Point Adolphus.
I
flew from Juneau to Gustavus on a 6 passenger Cherokee through the mountains.
And I mean "through" the mountains. I would estimate the cliffs were
about 100 feet off each wing tip and the ground below looked like we
were coming in for a landing as we went over the 4000 foot pass.
Click
on any photograph to see a larger image Kezia, one of our guides |
After a night in Gustavus I met everyone on my "Alaska Discovery" tour (10 guests and 2 guides). We took a boat with all of our gear from Gustavus across Icy Straight to a beach near Pinta Cove. We then loaded all of our gear into Easy Rider double kayaks and paddled about 5 miles to our campsite on the other side of Point Adolphus. The next 3 days we saw "at least" 20 humpback whales. |
Click
on map to see a lager image
|
I'm not sure how many we kept seeing multiple times. The number of whales could possibly be much higher. The closest whale was about 50 feet away.
 Whale breaching |
 Whale close to shore. |
We watched one whale breach (jump out of the water) more than 20 times. They are huge! They are the fifth largest animal on earth, growing up to 45 feet in length and weight up to nearly 50 tons! |
The sounds they make are something I will never forget. We also saw lots of eagles, harbor porpoise, harbor seals, huge sea lions, and about a dozen sea otters.
 Alan and his family in Easy Rider double kayaks |
 Note the whale just beyond the kayak. |
 Carl and Marie |
 Simulated photograph of the meteor. |
One clear night were we sitting on a dark beach listening to the sounds of the whales only a few feet off shore. When the sky suddenly became quite bright. We looked up and saw a meteor that was a large green ball with a neon-like glow and a long sparkling tail. It lasted a very long time. We all sat motionless and stunned for a moment unable to even talk. It was once in a lifetime sighting that was almost spiritual. No one in the group had ever seen anything like it, not even the guides. Everyone was awed. |
|
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