Wildlife Along the Inside Passage at Glacier Bay and College Fjord

Against the face of the Margerie Glacier where the glacier melt exits beneath the glacier we saw hundreds of seagulls.  I can only surmise that the waves and broiling water exiting the glacier helped bring small fish to the surface producing a smorgasbord for the birds.  There also were small puffins that fished in the area.  This was our first encounter with these colorful birds that are very comfortable in the water and swim as

Puffin in flight.

efficiently as penguins, diving over 200 feet deep in search of food.  When trying to take off, the puffins appear to be running on water, as the below photo illustrates.  We heard that if they ate too much, sometimes they are unable to fly, either too heavy or too full, not sure which!



Puffin on the run.  He's like the little engine that could!  I think I can, I think I can!

In Glacier Bay we had our first encounter with sea otters.
 

Sea Otters waving.

 They have to be the cutest things I have ever seen, we instantly fell in love with them.  However, it is a little difficult to take good wildlife pictures when you are on a 14 story ship.  I took many of the pictures of birds and sea mammals from the 11th floor and I’m rather surprised that I had any of them in focus at all. 

The Otter Flotilla

Sea Otters however were a little difficult capture as are smaller, usually further away from the ship; they float, turn, dive and just seem to be having a great time playing in the sea and avoiding getting their picture taken!  





Clapping otter



However, the most elusive of all the wildlife were Dall's Porpoise.   They are the fastest little suckers I have ever seen!  By the time you know they are there, the speed demons are either gone or just leaving you with a splash, definitely not easy for a DSLR.  They travel at up to 35 mph and can reach 7.5 feet.  Their coloration looks like a miniature orca, just 10 times smaller and faster.  While I saw them many times on the trip, I only had one or two shots of anything that looked like more than a splash.    I have a lot of respect for anyone who can take good pictures of them!

 Later that day as we were exiting Glacier Bay, we sighted many humpback whales.  There appeared to be a confluence of waters that must have been full of krill.  There had to be 30 -50 whales that

were feeding along the line of where the two waters met.  Off in the distance the whales were spouting and breaching; throwing their entire bodies out of the water.  Adult Humpback Whales are 45 feet long and average 1,000 pounds a linear foot.  It takes a huge amount of effort for them to breach out of the water.  There were numerous chances to observe the fluke, or whale’s tale as they were repeatedly diving as they fed in this krill rich area.  There was a small boat that was on a whale watching cruise that was nearby and they must have had a fabulous show!
 

That must have been an amazing sight from that little boat.

Whale in a full breach.  Glad that 45,000 lbs isn't landing near me!

 



Momma's Fluke and baby whale following

In College Fjord we again saw otters, gulls, a lone humpback whale and had our first look at harbor seals.  We saw a group of five of them floating by on an iceberg at the end of the fjord.  They seemed to be quizzically watching the passengers on the ship as they floated by.  Evidently seals and their pups are safe inside these tidal areas filled with icebergs.  Their primary threat comes from Orcas who avoid hunting in these areas because the icebergs confuse their navigation. 

I knew that we would be again passing those cute seals on the iceberg on our way out of the fjord.  I was hoping to get a closer angle, so with camera and 500 mm lens in hand, I made my way to the 7th floor deck in search of a great seal shot.  Not sure what side of the boat they would be on, I was running from side to side and eventually saw them approaching very close to the ship on the “starboard” side, that’s the left side for all you land lovers.  I ran (and I can’t run) as far down the deck as I could to get a good spot and then took as many pictures as I could before we sailed past them and they were out of view.  I swear they were watching me running around with my monster lens wondering what the heck I was doing!

Over the two days we cruised the two glacier areas we saw almost all the water mammals that I would expect to see except Orcas.  I only saw one on the trip and that was near Vancouver and very far away.  We never did see a bear on the trip, but that was not too unexpected.  I'm sure we will see some in Denali and of course we were guaranteed to see them at Brooks Falls.