Alaskan Whale Tales (Tails)


Alaskan Seasons roll on by

Fall by John Denver (from Season Suite on the Rocky Mountain High Album)

Reflections on the water like shadows in my mind
Speak to me of passing days and nights and passing time
The falling leaves are whispering winter's on it's way
I close my eyes remembering the warmth of yesterday

It seems a shame to see September swallowed by the wind
And more than that it's oh so sad to see the summer end
And though the changing colors are a lovely thing to see
If it were mine to make the change I think I'd let it be

But I don't remember hearing . . . anybody asking me

Here are a couple more pictures as the fall season comes to an end and winter’s grip has not quite taken hold.  This week the weather has been slightly above average with temperatures in the 50’s, some fog, and hopefully sunshine later this week if the fog burns off.  More photos from ADN and me.

Photo by Tom Miller

In this Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009 photo, boaters and fishermen near Ketchikan, Alaska, watch as a group of up to six humpback whales gorged on herring, repeatedly breaking the surface together, then swimming around, showing flukes and backs, blowing and sometimes making loud shrieking and groaning noises before diving, only to surface again minutes later. Seagulls feeding on herring driven to the surface by the whales let boaters know where the whales would surface next.




Photo by Tom Miller

Seagulls swoop in to catch herring that break the surface in an attempt to elude four to six humpback whales that were bubble-net fishing near Ketchikan, Alaska, Some herring are visible in the splashing foam around the second whale mouth from the left. Light-colored baleen is visible in the upper jaws of those mouths, as well as in the mouth of one whale, lower in the water, at right. Also seen are whale bellies and splashing fins.




Photo by Jim Lavrakas

A humpback whale sounds in Sumner Straight on the north side of Zarembo Island in 2006. Zarembo Island is about 10 miles due west of Wrangell, Alaska.




Photo by Bob Hallinen

A pair of humpback whales flip their tales into the air as the sound in Unalaska Bay in the Aleutian Islands in 2005.




Photo by Icewind

This photo was taken last summer outside Seward in Resurrection Bay while I was fishing for Halibut.  We slowed the boat as this pod was about a quarter mile away and slowly two moved up close to the boat.  They had been on the stern as I took several pictures when one rolled slightly, tail slowly rolling up out of the water and back into the sea.

We waited for several minutes waiting for the next surface as I headed towards the front of the boat when one came almost completely out of the water rolling as he crashed back down splashing loudly.  I snapped several pictures and this one was the best one.  A once in a lifetime shot for me but boaters I have fished with say it is common for them to fully breech but most people miss the photo opportunity.




The mornings are dark now as we continue to lose about 30 minutes of daylight each week so winter is taking its grip.  The leaves were bright and beautiful this year but as always happens . . . the winds blew most away within a few days so only the heartiest of leaves are still on the trees.

Fall by John Denver



This is also a tribute to John Denver who was killed on October 12, 1997 whose music still lives on within us.

Ice

Comments

JeanMac said…
What a picture!
3:43 PM
Chatty Crone said…
The pictures are awesome.

I loved John Denver's music.
6:46 PM
Icewind said…
Pictures like music paints stories of who we are and where our imagination can take us . . . so many possibilities.

Glad you enjoyed.

Ice
10:31 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Morrison Springs - Ponce de Leon, Florida

Image
Morrison Springs Ponce de Leon, Florida County road 181 Morrison Springs was one of our favorite dive spots on many of our Florida trips but it also had the most danger to it.  One of Northwest Florida’s best-kept secrets was known to more Georgia and Alabama folks than Floridians.  And they weren’t talking.  It had to do with the jewel of a Panhandle spring, a turquoise pool surrounded by stately cypress trees whose aerial roots stand taller than a man. Below the surface, clear, 68-degree water wells up from a spring cave source over 90 feet deep. Morrison Springs is just far enough off the beaten path in this sunny pine and cypress country to be special for any diver lucky enough to find and dive the site. The shallow pool reflects the overhead blue sky and if the water is clear and the bottom clean of silt, it resembles a giant sapphire.  Unlike some springs with a deep, black hole source, this one takes visitors gradually into its shallows from a gol...
Read more

Are Showing Your Nipples Appropriate Work Attire?

Image
Let me first say that personally, I have no problem with it at all. This has been kind of a weird week here in the north land with the first of many winter snowfalls’s to come and the landscape once again beautifully covered in the white stuff. It looks like the kids will have to put their Halloween costume on over a snowsuit again this year as the cold snowy stuff is here again. That is not what I wanted to write about tonight but was necessary to set up what I did want to write about. “Frosty nipples” are quite common here during most of the year and when things cool down on the cusp of winter probably more so. Work attire with tight shirts or low cut blouses that ‘make a statement’ during colder weather could be taken several ways by co-workers or visitors to your place of business. While you may not always be taken seriously by others in the office and some may have trouble looking you in the face, I say it's a freedom of rights issue. If you want to show o...
Read more

Biscuits and Whores

Image
Some of the best things about life I learned from Lonesome Dove. Great movie, excellent characters, and tells a story about how to live life. Augustus McCrae “It ain’t dying I’m talking about, it’s living.   I doubt it matters where you die, but it matters where you live.” I'm just tryin' to keep everything in balance, Woodrow. You do more work than you got to, so it's my obligation to do less. “Yesterday’s gone and we can’t get it back.” “I'm sure partial to the evening,' Augustus said. 'The evening and the morning.   If we just didn't have to have the rest of the dern day I'd be a lot happier.” Hat Creek Cattle Company Well we don't rent pigs and I figure it's better to say it right out front because a man that does like to rent pigs is . . . he's hard to stop. Biscuits “I never knew you to get excited about anything except biscuits maybe . . . and whores!”    Captain Woodrow Call to Augustus McCrae in Lonesome Dove. Whores L...
Read more