My Stories from the Field: Sea Kayaking with Whales in Alaska

Stories from the Field: Sea Kayaking with Whales in Alaska

People always ask me what my favorite trip has been. I waffle and mumble something about how hard it is to pick one. How can I grace one memory or place over another? How could anything be the one pinnacle in a lifetime of mountaintop experiences?

I usually give a perfunctory answer depending on what memories I jump back to in the moment. But my answer is so inadequate. There is no way to encapsulate a life of outdoor highs in a few words.

This post is start of a series called My Stories from the Field. I will share some tales of my outdoor adventures all over the planet.  Come with me to a spectacular place for a tiny glimpse of adventure.

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Sea Kayaking with Whales in Alaska

My teenage daughter and I were on the 4^th day of our sea kayaking and camping expedition near Juneau, Alaska. As we approached North Pass, the vertical mist of humpback whales spouting laced the horizon. Excitement filled my paddling strokes with power and speed.

Soon, the backs of shallow-diving whales turned toward us. My breathing undulated like the up-and-down motion of the glistening ebony skin cresting the water.

I grabbed my camera to video the humpbacks’ approach. Closer and closer, the group of whales headed straight for our kayaks. Their slow motion dipping and rising made my awe win the battle over my fear.

With false calm, I said to Amelia, “I really do hope they know where we are.”. Can you trust a whale for your safety? At that moment, I gave my life over to a group of mammoth beings, abandoning my paddle on my kayak deck and continuing to film.

“Wait for it”, I thought as the whales arched their backs to prepare to dive. Then six whale tails flipped up in unison. The slow-motion raising of a line of tail flukes signaled a deep dive in front of our kayaks. They probably swam distantly under our boats, who knows?  All I know is I could trust a whale to treat me like a respected guest in their home. They did know we were there.

Giddiness and relief tinged the realization that I had just had a once-in-a-lifetime encounter with whales. A tiny boat is no match for 200 tons of whale, but marine mammal mercy kept me upright.

Our Whale Camp

That unimaginable whale interaction was the first of many memory souvenirs we took away from the next three days of camping on Lincoln Island next to North Pass. Our beach campsite gave us a window into the world of whales. We woke up and went to sleep with the sound of humpback antics. We had morning coffee with whales slapping and breaching on our watery porch.

I’m tempted to say we saw an incredible show put on by whales. But in truth, we lurked in whale bedrooms and at whale lunch counters to peek into their everyday life. The humpbacks performed their ordinary tasks to live, not entertain us.

At 10:30 am, the whale watch boats would arrive, hauling cruise ship passengers out to ooh and aah. We would paddle our kayaks out among the whales and tour boats. Friendly waves to us from tourists on the boats came with a yearning to be in our position. They emanated regrets of being too old or too timid for the kind of adventures my daughter and I were having.

By noon, the boats would motor off into the distance and we would have “our whales” all to ourselves. The immersing quiet of the wilderness would return only to be broken up by whales splashing and a couple of scarred sea lions cavorting in the waves.

The cycle would start all over again at 1:30 pm with the arrival of the next set of whale watch tours. Preferring our whale-only time over the whine of boat motors, we hiked the lichen-encrusted island when the whale watch boats floated in North Pass. The wisdom of bearded spruce enthralled us until it was time to return to the campsite to cook dinner.

Close Encounters of the Whale Kind

One morning, Amelia paddled out alone as I watched from the beach. A tour boat was near her kayak as she bobbed on the water beside the shore. All of a sudden, a whale started to surface. From my vantage point, it looked like it was coming up beneath her boat. The gasps of the boat passengers confirmed it. A lightning bolt of fear coursed through me.

Amelia saw the whale just as it nudged her sideways. She braced against the wave the humpback made and stared into the eye of the whale. Later, she told me she saw playfulness in the whale’s eye. Was the whale asking her to move over to give it some room, or was it toying with her boat in fun?

The connections I felt with whales made me forget fear. The anxiety of risking a capsize into glacier-cold water by a mammoth being was overridden by astonishment.

Some might call it stupidity or naivety, but my feelings are based on co-existing with wild animals in remote spaces many times. The grizzly bear that sauntered a few feet past me on the barren tundra in Denali. The sea lions I swam with in the Baja. The frame of buzzing honeybees baby Amelia and I held without any protective clothing because the beekeeper assured me they don’t sting if you are gentle with them. As long as food and fear aren’t involved, amazing wild animal interactions are possible.

Time to Leave Paradise

We had originally planned to camp on another island but stayed an extra day on Lincoln Island because we didn’t want to leave the whales. I figured out the time it would take to paddle to the take-out, so we could linger as long as possible that morning.

Finally, we paddled the glassy water around the point of Lincoln Island en route to our take-out in Auk Bay. It was a perfect day in Alaska as we were blessed with another day of unusually sunny weather. Suddenly, a rushing sound followed by a huge splash broke the silence.

Final Amazing Whale Behavior While Sea Kayaking with Whales in Alaska

We turned to see a cluster of whale mouths propelled high above the water. The humpbacks were bubble-net feeding! As students of whale behaviors, while Amelia and I had never seen bubble-net feeding in the wild before, we knew instantly what the coordinated chaos was.

Bubble-net feeding is a synchronized hunting strategy used by a group of whales to drive fish to the surface so they can gulp them down all at once. The whales dive below a school of fish and blow bubbles to keep the school together as they are forced to the surface. The circle of whales all shoots up together with mouths agape to gobble up their meal. The perfectly organized behavior demonstrates the high social intelligence of the species.

Getting back to shore was paused as we waited with anticipation for another display. Sure enough, another cluster of bubbles broke the water’s surface, followed by a leaping circle of hungry whales. We were so close we could see the baleen in the whales’ mouths.

My “hope they know we are here” mantra echoed through my head. Again, the humpbacks went about their life chores without disturbing us. The peaceful co-existence was as remarkable as the glimpse we had into the fascinating behaviors of whales.

Finally, we had to tear ourselves away from our week of wonder sea kayaking with whales in Alaska and paddle back to the take-out.

Related post-> Sea Kayaking with Humpback Whales in Maui

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