The Alaskan Jewel! Welcome Aboard….You don’t Exist! updated 12/13/2015 - Page 24 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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It was so exciting but the Captain finally said we had to move on if we wanted to see humpbacks.
Claire and I went back downstairs and sat with Skip. It had been pretty windy up top, which made it a bit colder too. He said he could see them through the windows just fine and was in fact spotting them before a lot of us up top were and pointing them out and then the Captain would head where he was pointing. For all I know he was lying, but he we will give him the benefit of the doubt and believe him. LOL!
What is bubble net feeding you ask? Well……Bubble Net Feeding is a unique feeding technique employed by Humpback Whales, in which a group of whales swim in a shrinking circle blowing bubbles below a school of fish. This shrinking column of bubbles surrounds the school of fish forcing them upward. The whales spontaneously swim upward through the bubble net, mouths wide open, catching thousands of fish in one gulp.
This is where I wish we could’ve gotten just a bit closer as I have a pretty good zoom lens on my SLR but it was still a stretch to get some of the shots.
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You got some great pictures of the bubble net feeding! When you mentioned the birds being around I thought of the bubble net as we got to see that as well on our last excursion. It is amazing to watch and hear as it goes on. We saw it but didn't get nearly the good pictures that you did.
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Your pictures are just incredible and how exciting that you got to see Orca's and Humpback Whales!!! I love all your landscape pictures too. Some look like they could be a postcard.
Wow what awesome pictures! Was it pretty rough out there? The one time I went whale watching I got sea sick.
No , not at all. It was pretty smooth the whole way. I am not sure if that is normal or not.
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Originally Posted by chezp
Oh wow, what amazing photos you got!
Thanks.
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great pictures!
Thanks
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Originally Posted by jimmymac
That was one incredible excursion - orcas and bubble feeding. Amazing pix yet again
It really was. It was great and more than I was expecting.
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Originally Posted by Pris
You got some great pictures of the bubble net feeding! When you mentioned the birds being around I thought of the bubble net as we got to see that as well on our last excursion. It is amazing to watch and hear as it goes on. We saw it but didn't get nearly the good pictures that you did.
It was such a neat thing and I hadn't realized it wasn't something they do regularly so we learned stuff that day too.
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Originally Posted by Cam22
Such an incredible experience seeing the orcas and then the humpbacks!
It really was!
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Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Wow sounds like you were beyond lucky today! How cool to see that feeding ritual!!
I felt it was a pretty good day.
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Originally Posted by lindawdw
Your pictures are just incredible and how exciting that you got to see Orca's and Humpback Whales!!! I love all your landscape pictures too. Some look like they could be a postcard.
Thanks. We did have a really good day. And the landscape around Alaska is just so amazing.
I stood next to Sammy for quite a while and she was just so fun to talk to. She said this was an amazing tour and not something you get to see normally.
We watched them for a bit more and then the Captain said we had to head back since we had a ship to catch yet today and because we were out further than where they normally go it was going to take a bit longer to get back.
We headed back downstairs to warm up and talked to Skip. This was just so fabulous, but we knew that this excursion was more for us girls than Skip. He didn’t have that big silly grin on his face today like he did when we were out crab fishing. Today I was wearing that grin.
Sammy talked some more on the way back. She was so pumped about everything. She said normally they don’t see 8 whales together, let along bubble feeding too. And the fact that we saw Orcas as well just made this tour all the more exciting.
She went on with more info about whales and they also had some stuff for sale and another gal came up and talked about that. They also had some snacks for free. I think it was salmon on a cracker and you could buy the cans of salmon if you liked it. It was pretty good. Claire refused to try it. I think we got some more cocoa as well.
Finally we made it back to shore and I was watching my watch. It was getting late and I knew we were cutting it close getting back to the ship, but thank goodness this was a ship excursion.
When we got back we tipped Sammy and headed back to the bus. Now tips are totally optional, but most of the kids working on these excursions, that is…. the ones helping out, are college kids trying to earn money for the next year. I never felt pressured to tip anyone though it was always announced that they were working hard and we could tip them if we felt they did a good job. So far, everyone really went above and beyond and we were happy to give them a few bucks to help them along.
Sadly as we got into town I knew we wouldn’t have any time to look around or shop. I had really wanted to go to Tracy’s Crab Shack for a leg of king crab, but it wasn’t meant to be. I should’ve gotten crab yesterday in Ketchikan…darn it!
As we waiting I was trying to upload photos to facebook from my phone. The funny thing is I had better cell reception on the whale watching boat than I did at the dock here.
Up next….Some lunch and some more beautiful scenery!
Yikes! I'd be so nervous knowing all-aboard was getting close but looks like you definitely weren't the only ones toeing the line there! Glad today's excursion was so wonderful!!
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