We left Flynn Cove this morning and headed west in Icy Strait. We were hoping to see some humpbacks as we neared Point Adolphus. That turned out to be a big YES.
Not only that, they were bubble-net feeding.
One came pretty close to Melissa Lynn while they were drifting.
About a dozen whales were bubble-net feeding together, and there were quite a few more on the outskirts of the area doing their own thing. There were maybe five whale-watching boats and two pleasure boats hanging out watching, and a handful of fishing boats passing through heading east and west. Busy place!
I love how much baleen I can see in this next photo!
We reluctantly left after, oh, maybe an hour and a half, and continued on to Mosquito Cove in the Inian Islands.
We met up with friends Dan and Eileen on Fortunate, and then dinghied over to Elfin Cove for some lunch at Coho’s Bar & Grill.
After lunch we walked along the outer boardwalk back to our dinghies and along the entrance to the inner harbor.
It had started raining by the time we were finished with lunch, so we just rain-geared up and headed back to Mosquito Cove. We opted to try the shortcut through Mosquito Pass, which is usually choked with kelp. See below.
It’s a good shortcut though, so we pushed through and made it alright.
When we returned to our boats, there was a humpback right inside Mosquito Cove, maneuvering around our anchored boats, along with a whole bunch of sea lions. So we had a fabulous show of wildlife again, but this time right from our boats at anchor!
In addition to the humpback having its dinner here, the sea lions were as well. On their menu: salmon (pinks/chum, we’re pretty sure). Boy are they dramatic with it. This one was about 15ft off the stern of Airship, so I was able to snap some action shots.
What an incredible day! Tomorrow — off to Pelican! We plan to meet back up with Dan and Eileen somewhere on the west side of Chichagof Island in a couple days. Yay boat friends!
Oh, and last night’s dinner: fresh caught halibut with some leftover chimichurri sauce on top and a kale/broccoli/cabbage salad with poppyseed dressing. YUM.
