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Bringing It Home – The Saint Rose Blog

Look at all those… Heads and Tails!

Nothing frightening here. No worries. I simply wanted to share some pictures from when I went whale watching!

It is best to go whale watching at the beginning of the summer, when the whales are just returning from the warmer waters of Hawaii, where they went to mate. Humpback whales will fast, living off of body fat reserves, and forego feeding while it is mating season (talk about being committed!). So when the whales return to Alaska for food in the summer months, they are truly ravenous–it is said that whales can consume an average of about 1 to 1.5 tons of fish and krill a day!

(credit: Priscilla Ly)

Along with a few other people, I was shuttled out to the harbor at Auke Bay to board a small boat which brought us out to see the whales! I was able to experience seeing humpback whales engage in bubble net feeding–a unique feeding technique employed by the humpback whales. A group of whales will swim in a shrinking circle blowing bubbles forcing a school of fish upward. The whales will then spontaneously swim up, through the ‘bubble net’ with their mouths wide open, trapping thousands of fish in one gulp!

That day, we witnessed quite a bit of action out on the water. We never had to wait too long to see the humpback whales emerge from the water or spot water spouted from the blow holes indicating their location. We even got to see a whale breach! (Sorry guys and gals, I was a little too awe-struck to have clicked the shutter button…But feel free to click the link I left you, I’m sure it will suffice)

All in all, it was a wonderful day! Anyone else have stories to share about their whale watching experience(s)?

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