Our next port of call was the village of Hoonah, but it was called Icy Strait Point on all the cruise literature. I loved it here! We went on a bear search on the Spassky River and even found some. The tour guide said we were a little early for the salmon runs, and that's what brings the bears out in larger numbers. From a distance we saw a mother bear and one cub, and that was pretty cool. The area was just beautiful, and I can imagine what it's like when the salmon are running. I'd love to go back sometime in July to see it.
Back in town my dad and I walked around the old cannery which had been turned into a really neat mall for local shops/artists, and we went a short way down a beach trail. Right after we got on the trail my dad called out "Look!" and there was my first whale :) Practically right next to us in the bay was a humpback. I was so excited I screwed up my camera. I kept hitting the wrong buttons. The whale blew, then did the tail flip. A minute or so later it breached...and I missed it all with the camera, but I got to see it and that's the important part. It went back underwater and we figured that was the last we'd see of it. We continued down the trail and stopped at a bench with a great view of the bay and mountains. While we were there, the whale resurfaced! It was like it had been pacing us. I got out my video camera instead of my iphone and just filmed the water waiting for another awesome moment. It didn't do the tail flip again, but I managed to get some good frames and pulled a still photo off the video.
No comments:
Post a Comment