Alaska Day 1 - humpbacks bubble-net feeding

The start of our trip in Petersburg, Alaska. We got on the boat and met our fellow travelers and started out to Frederick Sound where it wasn’t long before we saw Humpback whales. a lot of them, with blows all around. The baleen humpbacks can grow to be 50 ft long. They breed in warm waters -these Pacific ones mostly come from Hawaii -and then migrate to colder waters to feed in the summer. They have the largest pectoral fins of any whale, breathe (blow) on their own, and can dive for 30 minutes. The term humpback describes how they arch their back before a dive- and then you see that big tail (fluke) go down. They are filter feeders that swim, then gulp plankton, krill and small fish. LIndsay, our naturalist on board really got excited to see them cooperating in their feeding actions. On our first afternoon!! Called bubble-net feeding, the hunting members of a pod, with one leader, form a circle 10 to 100 feet across and maybe 50 ft under the water and then they blow a wall of bubbles as they swim to the surface. the cylindrical wall of bubbles makes the krill, plankton, and small fish come to the surface in a giant mass and then the whales gulp a giant meal with mouths open. We saw them do this in a number of places - maybe 12 whales in a group. So cool! Humpbacks are also known for their songs, so we were treated to a hydrophone under the water to hear the amazing sounds they make. Reseachers are busy trying to figure out what it all means…

More whales from day 1. (which includes some of Petersburg and the scenery…)