JULY 30-31

On our way from Warm Springs Bay to Petersburg we stopped to fish and came across a group of 5-7 Steller Sea Lions who were feeding along the coast. It reminded us of the bubble netting that whales do, as the sea lions were in a group and went into an absolute feeding frenzy after circling around and stirring up fish. I took over 500 photos but unfortunately none of them really captured what we saw… but I’ve added a few anyway. The average male Steller sea lion is 9′ and weighs 1500 pounds. The average female is 7′ and 600 pounds. They don’t bark like other sea lions, but instead growl and roar- it’s quite a strange noise actually.

Steller Sea Lions starting their feeding frenzy

Success! Can you see the fish in his mouth?

This must be a male…that’s the end of his tail way to the right!

As we continued down Frederick sound we came across 3 humpbacks who breached 4 times! I wasn’t quite lucky enough to catch them in their full breach, but it was an unbelievable sight. It’s not known why humpbacks breach but it might be to dislodge barnacles from their skin, to communicate with one another, or just to play. Sometimes they apparently start to breach in response to a change in the weather. I like to think these whales were joyfully playing. In a typical breach, the whale shoots out of the water, spins in the air and lands on its back.

Breaching Humpback

The spin of the breach

Here’s a new one on me… just as a submarine raises its periscope to look around, humpbacks apparently take an occasional peek above sea level in what is referred to as Spyhopping. They lift the top third of their body (just past the eyes) out of the water and may shoot up 10 to 12 feet, sometimes spinning around to get a good look before sliding gracefully back into the water. What a great way to navigate! Those two two dark areas at the top of his head are his blow holes, the equivalent of nostrils on top of its head.

Spyhopping