PART 8 BB- Leaving Ketchikan, headed for Vancouver via Inside Passage
Monday, Sept. 9, 2:00 pm, The Orion pulled away from the cruise boat pier and steamed southeast to the Revillagigedo Channel and the Gulf of Alaska and Alaska's Inside Passage. Tomorrow will be at sea for the day bound for Chatham Sound and the British Columbia Narrows.
It was another beautiful sunny Alaskan afternoon with only a few clouds trying to upstage the sun every now and then. There was only a light breath of wind and the sea was nearly flat. It was a great day to be at sea.
Ketchikan was the last port in Alaska that we would visit. We would be in Alaskan waters for the rest of today and part of tomorrow before entering British Columbia. We still had the rest of today and tomorrow before the cruise ended, so even though we were a bit sad that the cruise would be coming to an end, we made the best of our time on the Orion.
Jen and I spent the afternoon in the Explorer's Lounge relaxing and enjoying the day. We met a lot of really interesting people from around the world in the Lounge and had many interesting conversations about every subject. In getting to know one another, the commonly discussed topic between all of us was what we all did for our careers. And during these conversations the subject of my 50 year career as an avian artist/sculptor intrigued many of them. In these discussions abut birds and wildlife, I found that birds were not a subject that inspired a lot of attention. Other than having bird feeders at home, birds were a mystery to most people. Whales are a different story though. When Whales are spotted, the sun deck would flood with interested onlookers that were excited to get a look or a picture of these magnificent creatures! I absolutely agree.....Jen and I are right there with them!
Birds however, get little or no attention. What I experienced was that Jen and I were probably the only two in the Explorer's Lounge that were interested in birds. Interestingly, everyone in the Lounge gave me the nickname of "Birdman" due to my daily position as a figurehead on the sun deck with my camera throughout the cruise. But there were benefits to this, I would often spot distant Whales and run back in and let everyone know. I had also become the Whale spotter!
We had sailed about two hours from Ketchikan and in the waters of Revillagigedo Channel when I spotted a distant blow about three-quarters of a mile from the Orion. This soon was replaced by gentle splashing as a single Whale broke the surface. The deck soon filled with interested people hoping to get a better look at this distant Whale.
The Whale broke the surface again getting closer to the ship. This time the Whale only gave everyone a quick look at its back and dorsal fin only. The Whale had a long flat back/dorsal area with a small dorsal fin.
I do not know my Whale identification. On the deck were two known Whale authorities and they identified the Whale. I found out later that it was identified as a Blue Whale, others identified it as most likely a Minke Whale? I really don't know. Looking at my Whale ID book I had with me, it looked like a Blue Whale to me, but I don't know.
We passed a channel marker on a small group of ledges and I could see quite a few birds on the rocks and swimming around them. At that distance it was too far to identify any birds through my binoculars. I took a series of pictures an figured I could enlarge them later on my computer and see what I could find in these images.
Swimming in small groups outside the rock ledges were Common Murre adults with a few fledglings.
Always present were a few curious Glaucous-winged Gulls flying around the ship and then moving on.
Several small groups of White-winged Scoter appeared off the bow, all were moving east.
We were now in the open water of the Gulf of Alaska and the Whale sightings picked up. At one point there were three small pods of Whales present at the same time a distant apart from each other, but all off the port side of the bow. I am not sure of these two species, I kept going back and forth with my camera-
This third small pod of Cetaceans were a little easier to identify- Dall's Porpoise.
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Tuesday, Sept. 10, Gulf of Alaska and steering towards Chatham Sound. After we put the latest Whale and Porpoise sightings behind us, the ocean became quiet again. We had traveled a while without any bird or whale sightings. Slowly, single Shearwaters were appearing in the distance moving towards the southeast. Their frequency increased all coming from the distant starboard side of the bow.
Eventually, they came from both sides of the Orion and were also getting closer to the sides of the ship.
To me, they all looked like Short-tailed Shearwaters, but this one Shearwater is most likely a Sooty Shearwater. It is larger, has a longer, stretched out body length, and had a longer bill.
While on the bow, I was joined by a man named Bill, who was a Geologist and an Alaskan Railroad authority who knew all about the area, its Geology, Natural History and the Railroad. The cruise line hired him to be the onboard announcer that would tell all of us the history of the area and about the formation of the land. Jen and I found his audio lectures and insights very quite interesting and informative. He introduced himself and I told him I recognized his voice from his comprehensive audio discussions we have been enjoying in the Lounge. Bill who was from Washington State, was also quite knowledgeable and interested in Cetaceans. He politely asked where I was from which I replied New England and he graciously said he figured that since he detected a slight New England accent.
He also noticed my fascination with birds. He couldn't help but ask me why I was taking so many pictures of those really distant birds? I told him that those small distant dark dots were Sooty and Short-tailed Shearwaters; a Pelagic seabird. He wasn't familiar with them, had no idea about them. I asked him if he ever noticed them hanging around Whales, and he said that he honestly didn't notice them; he was only paying attention to the Whales. I told him with a smile......they hide in plain sight!!
I also went on to tell him a little about the very highly developed olfactory senses of these "tube-nosed" sea birds which included Petrels, Storm-petrels, Albatross, Shearwaters and Fulmars. He was fascinated when I mentioned how these birds follow the scent of fish oil and offal on the surface of the sea. On the fishing boats they would come from great distances following the fish oil scent with the current leading the birds to the sterns of the boats. I could see Bill's wheels were turning; he was taking all of this in. I also told him that birders on pelagic birding trips will run a slick of fish oil, fish parts, beef suet and just about anything else that has a high odor and forms an oily slick to attract the birds to the boats.
And when you think of a pod of Whales gorging themselves on bait fish, what is left behind......a large oil slick of fish oil, baitfish adrenaline and offal....perfect for seabirds! I told him I learned to follow the birds while Whale Watching in New England. The Shearwaters usually lead you to the feeding Whales or the remnants. Follow the Shearwaters, and you should find the whales.....usually! I actually arrogantly (for fun) predicted that these Shearwaters flying southeast would lead us to a pod of Whales. Bill, looked at me and smiled......I hope that's true! We chatted a few more minutes and kept watching the Shearwaters. Eventually Bill went back into the Lounge to do some writing on his laptop.
The Shearwater numbers continued to increase with single birds being replaced by pairs and trios.
And Gulls started showing up again. I hadn't seen a Gull for hours.
Suddenly, a pair of Pomarine Jaegers buzzed by the bow of the ship coming from the port side. First Jaegers I had seen on this cruise.
The numbers of Shearwaters began to increase with more frequency..... now in small groups. All the birds were on the same heading......due southeast!
With the numbers of Shearwaters having increased and all heading in the same direction.....something was going to happen! Off in the distant southeast heading..... a splash and a tall dorsal fin appeared..............
This Continues...................
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