It was a beautiful morning as we sailed toward and into Pavlof Harbor. We were greeted by a brown bear mother and cub walking along the shoreline. We dropped our Zodiacs and cruised over to a nearby waterfall, where there was a group of brown bears of different ages catching pink salmon and playing in the water. We floated quietly and watched them go about their fishing. We then set sail through the huge fjord of Chatham Strait, looking for charismatic megafauna. After spotting a bunch of spouts in the distance, we headed toward the shoreline, where we witnessed a dozen humpback whales blowing, fluking, and bubble-net feeding. We celebrated the magnificent day with our final cocktail hour, recap, and the guest slideshow. It was a wonderful way to end our Southeast Alaska adventure.
9/10/2024
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National Geographic Sea Lion
Pavlof Harbor
The day started with an exciting encounter. Before breakfast we observed a group of bubble-netting humpback whales. It was incredible to see them lunge and hear them breathing at the surface. This was coupled by a glorious pink sunrise. After breakfast we took Zodiac cruises searching for bears near Pavlof Harbor. Even though we did not find any (wildlife is always delightfully unexpected), the scenery was beautiful, and we watched many adorable harbor seals. After thinking the excitement of the day was done, we spotted a large group of whales from a distance. While approaching closer, we realized this group was also bubble-net feeding. Close to the shore, we observed these whales for hours. We even dropped the hydrophone to hear their haunting feeding call before they all lunged at the surface. It was one of the most incredible things any of us had ever witnessed. As if this wasn’t enough, at our sunset recap we got the call that there were killer whales around the ship. It was the most amazing ending to the most amazing day.