Well I'm back from my Alaska trip, and I have pictures. This first set are mostly from when my family and I went orca watching in Vancouver before we left for the cruise. Well here they are...
This first picture is of Vancouver from the balcony of our room on the cruise ship.
These next few photos are of our whale watching trip in Vancouver. The water was a bit rough that day, but we were lucky enough to come accoss a super pod, meaning that we got to see a large group of 60ish whales as all off the resident pods from the area combined and were swimming together. We were in a small, inflatable type boad and were able to get very close to the whales, sometimes within 10 feet of them.
This picture is of Ruffles. He's named after the waves that run up the back side of his dorsal fin. He was the largest and by far the most impressive whale in his pod and that we saw on the entire trip. He is 52 years old.
This next pic is another of Ruffles. Behind him you can see another whale. That is his mother, who is 96 years old. That makes her the oldest whale in the entire group of pods that live in Vancouver. They are not 100% sure of her age becaues records were not accurate back at the time that she would have been born, but they are able to make fairly accurate estimates based on old naval photographs from the 30's and earlier that they have seen her in. They said it was difficult compiling photos of her because none of them were shot specifically of the whales. Rather, she has just been spotted randomly in the background of other photos during that time.
A whale spy hopping.
Another spy hopper.
... some tail slapping pics.
We were able to see a couple of the whales breaching as they began feeding, but unfortunately it happened too fast for us to take any good pictures of. We also saw what the guide explained to us as mating behavior, which is when we got some of the tail slapping and spyhopping pics.
These next pics are of some bald eagles that we saw as we were on our way back in to the harbor from whale watching.
The final group of photos are of the Turner and Hubbard Glaciers. Our first stop of the cruise was at these glaciers when we pulled in to the harbor and stopped to take photos. Because of the lack of traffic of other cruise ships and the nice weather, they say that we were able to get closer than they have ever been able to get. We also got to see a lot of calving, which was pretty cool. It sounded like we were in the middle of a thunderstorm with the sounds that the ice was making as it broke.
Coming up to the glaciers...
Turner Glacier...
This glacier was covered in sediment and looked much darker than the Hubbard Glacier.
Hubbard Glacier...
They ice is super dense in these glaciers. Thats what gives it that deep blue color. You will be able to see the color better when I post the rest of my pics, as I was able to walk on one glacier and get close up shots of it.
Part II coming later (hopefully tomorrow)...
This first picture is of Vancouver from the balcony of our room on the cruise ship.
These next few photos are of our whale watching trip in Vancouver. The water was a bit rough that day, but we were lucky enough to come accoss a super pod, meaning that we got to see a large group of 60ish whales as all off the resident pods from the area combined and were swimming together. We were in a small, inflatable type boad and were able to get very close to the whales, sometimes within 10 feet of them.
This picture is of Ruffles. He's named after the waves that run up the back side of his dorsal fin. He was the largest and by far the most impressive whale in his pod and that we saw on the entire trip. He is 52 years old.
This next pic is another of Ruffles. Behind him you can see another whale. That is his mother, who is 96 years old. That makes her the oldest whale in the entire group of pods that live in Vancouver. They are not 100% sure of her age becaues records were not accurate back at the time that she would have been born, but they are able to make fairly accurate estimates based on old naval photographs from the 30's and earlier that they have seen her in. They said it was difficult compiling photos of her because none of them were shot specifically of the whales. Rather, she has just been spotted randomly in the background of other photos during that time.
A whale spy hopping.
Another spy hopper.
... some tail slapping pics.
We were able to see a couple of the whales breaching as they began feeding, but unfortunately it happened too fast for us to take any good pictures of. We also saw what the guide explained to us as mating behavior, which is when we got some of the tail slapping and spyhopping pics.
These next pics are of some bald eagles that we saw as we were on our way back in to the harbor from whale watching.
The final group of photos are of the Turner and Hubbard Glaciers. Our first stop of the cruise was at these glaciers when we pulled in to the harbor and stopped to take photos. Because of the lack of traffic of other cruise ships and the nice weather, they say that we were able to get closer than they have ever been able to get. We also got to see a lot of calving, which was pretty cool. It sounded like we were in the middle of a thunderstorm with the sounds that the ice was making as it broke.
Coming up to the glaciers...
Turner Glacier...
This glacier was covered in sediment and looked much darker than the Hubbard Glacier.
Hubbard Glacier...
They ice is super dense in these glaciers. Thats what gives it that deep blue color. You will be able to see the color better when I post the rest of my pics, as I was able to walk on one glacier and get close up shots of it.
Part II coming later (hopefully tomorrow)...
Those are some amazing pictures.