Whale!
We pulled away from the Ketchikan dock before breakfast, headed for the Misty Fjords National Monument. Binoculars and cameras at the ready, crew and passengers spent the morning scanning for wildlife.
Eagle!
Suddenly a shout would go up, “whale!”, or “over there!” If you looked fast enough, you might spot a hump before it disappeared again into the water. Everyone would remain staring at the spot hoping for a reappearance. Sometimes to be rewarded, other times to disappointment.
Whale!
Tami’s strategy was to remain out on deck for long periods of time, eyes glued to the water, freezing her tushy off. Mike chose the soft man approach of hiding, cowardly, in the lounge until the call went up, only then to rush out on deck hoping to locate the latest spotting before it was gone.
After a while we began to also see some porpoises. They were harder to spot, quickly jumping out of the water and splashing back in. By the time you could raise your optics to your eye for a better look, what you were looking for was no longer there.
Porpoises!
Rocking out
In the afternoon we sailed into Walker Cove for some skiffing and kayaking. Mike attempted to make up for his earlier failings as a male by suggesting we do the long kayak – covering up to eight miles in three hours. Tami rolled her eyes before wisely pointing out he could probably not last that long without a bathroom break. She proposed that we might instead try the open kayaking, where we would be free to go where we wanted, as long as we remained within sight, and thus rescue, distance from the ship. Mike gracefully, and gratefully, allowed Tami to win that argument.
Misty Fiords
Walker Cove
Open kayaking was fun, though we did at one point try to talk another couple into making a break for open water with us. As usual, Tami ended up damp. For some reason she seems to get leaks around her spray skirt. It may have something with her wearing it like hip huggers, while Mike hikes his up near his chin, kind of like his boxers. We may experiment on that theory tomorrow.
Kayaks waiting for us
Spray skirts
Mike bundling up
We have been enjoying meeting other people on the ship. Today we ate with a Texas minister and his wife. Not cut from the usual cloth, however. The wife mentioned the she herself is atheist, and the preacher described his religion as mythological. They also have a strong LGBQ element in their congregation. If we were inclined to go to church, theirs is the one we would want to go to.
After dinner one of the guides gave a talk on whales. At one point he mentioned that baby blue whales put on about 200 pounds per day, which breaks down to around 8 pounds an hour. Someone in the audience noted the only other creature who does that is the cruise ship passenger.
Everyone looked forward to happy hour each day
Last look at Walker Cove