This morning was a perfect example of the flexibility of our trips. There's always a plan A and a plan B, but today was a total plan "we'll see." This morning we'd planned to conduct Zodiac cruises around the icebergs, which had calved off the LeConte Glacier, but once the anchor was dropped we spied two groups of killer whales (Orcinus orca) cruising along the shoreline. The choice was whether to see the icebergs or the orca... the orca won, hands down. Four Zodiacs were dropped into the water and we went off in pursuit of another up-close and personal encounter with some amazing Alaskan wildlife. It was incredible! There were two pods of orcas, six and seven per group, just ahead of us which we were fortunate enough to follow for a while. What was truly amazing was the fact that we had such clear views of these mesmerizing marine mammals.
The orcas were definitely cruising rather than feeding and seemed to surface in a regular pattern. First came a sub-adult male, then another sub-adult, then a female with her new calf, then a large adult male with his tall erect dorsal fin (rising some six feet above water line), then lastly another sub-adult. Their blows could often be heard and sometimes they came close enough for us to see their single blowholes. Despite the overcast skies and intermittently heavy rains this was a spectacular sighting. Even more exciting was the fact that we were able to identify the large male from the catalog of photo-identified individuals. Included in this catalog are the orcas known to cruise the waters of Southeast Alaska. These whales are identified by their "saddle patches" (a light coloration behind their dorsal fins) in conjunction with the shape and irregularities of their dorsal fins. The big male was definitely identified as T87 of the T88 group of transient orcas by the notch in the upper part of his dorsal fin. This information will eventually be plugged into a national database. Not only did we get a great sighting, but we'll also be contributing to the ongoing research about these amazing animals.
Afterwards we headed into the nearby historic fishing community of Petersburg to immerse ourselves into the local culture and take an interpretative hike through a nearby muskeg (bog). Don't laugh, bogs comprise almost 15% of Southeast Alaska and play an important role in the overall nature of this temperate rainforest. And it IS a rainforest as everyone onboard can testify.
