Watching Whales

Whale Slideshow

I made it back from vacation in Alaska, I went on a photo safari into Stevens Pass just a few miles from Juneau looking for whales to photograph. Well we found them. There was a young male that was having a great time splashing in front of the cameras. It was almost like he was showing off for the group. The tour stayed and watched as long as was allowed. In Alaska a boat can only do the kind of activity we did for 30 minutes. This is a law. Our guide got so excited that he took his camera out and took a few shots. After that was over we went about 5 miles deeper into the channel and came upon a group of whales feeding. There were 8 to 12 females using a process call bubble netting. This is done by surrounding the school of fish and exhaling creating a wall of bubbles that the schooling fish are afraid to swim through. The whales then come up through the middle of the schooling fish with their mouths open.

Near the end of the trip our guide told us that no matter what we paid it was not enough. To see a whale breaching for 30 minutes is a pretty rare sight, to see whales bubble netting is extremely rare. To see both in the same trip is a once in a lifetime experience. It was something I will never forget!