Today is Haines day! Haines is a small coastal town that is brimming with neat activities for our guests. While some guests enjoyed a deep hike into a temperate rainforest or a walk through meadows of flowers, others went fly fishing, cycling, or floating on a river raft. Some guests spent the day in town bebopping around into shops, breweries, and museums. Haines day is always a guest favorite. We left the dock in the early evening to head for Cross Sound. Tomorrow, we are exploring the Inian Islands! We closed our day with a stunningly vivid double rainbow after dinner. It was such an amazing day in Southeast Alaska.
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.
