Photo Diary: Southeast Alaska Whales and Fjords

Over Labor Day weekend Alex and I ventured to the moody coast of southeast Alaska and enjoyed a long weekend cruising through the waters of Auke Bay and the Tracy Arm in search of whales and glaciers. Much to our delight, we found plenty of both.

Each summer, humpback whales arrive to Alaska in droves after overwintering in Hawaii and Baja California. There isn’t food for them in these tropic locales so instead they shift their focus to breeding and giving birth—newborn calves do not have enough fat to survive in the cold Alaskan waters so they are born in tropics where they build up essential fat stores before heading north. After spending up to eight months fasting, humpbacks return to the nutrient-dense waters of Alaska and begin feasting on krill and small fish. They will spend the entire summer fattening up and can eat up to 1.5 tons of food per day between June and September!

Alex and I went on two whale watching tours during our trip, one with Harv and Marv’s and one with Jayleen’s, and we had a wonderful time on both tours. I highly recommend choosing companies that have smaller boats if possible. Jayleen’s has room for only six passengers and it made for a more intimate experience on the water. Additionally, each passenger has enough room to move around the boat without having to clamor over other passengers to get a good view. The tours were only 2.5-3 hours, which initially sounded short, but we spent nearly the entire time watching one whale or another—moving on after spending half an hour with a whale, per NOAA regulations.

On our final day of the trip we took a 7-hour tour to the Tracy Arm with True Alaskan Tours. This experience ended up being the highlight of the trip for me. I knew that the Tracy Arm would be impressive, but I was not prepared for just how impressive it would be. The winding fjord is hemmed in by towering cathedral-like walls, an impenetrable rainforest, and thundering waterfalls. After journeying past valley after valley that rivalled Yosemite, we found ourselves at the head of the fjord, in front of its crown jewel: the South Sawyer Glacier. The glacier appears like a castle with turrets made of white ice and jagged blue walls that reach across the fjord. We stood in awe watching as the glacier shed huge chunks of ice into the water, the splashes echoing around us. Unfortunately, this impressive glacier has been rapidly retreating. The naturalist pointed out markers showing where the glacier was in recent years and as we passed those markers we were still in open water, the glacier still far in the distance.

This trip was another reminder of why southeast Alaska has such a hold on my heart—its wildlife, lush forests, glaciers, fjords, and mountains are unparalleled. I’m always dreaming of the time I’ve spent there and always looking forward to an eventual return.