"Whale" hello there

Again this weekend we had the chance to go back out on the water and do some wildlife watching.  I must sound like a broken record but it was again one of those moments where it was hard to believe we live here.  We weren't just on vacation; this is our home, that we share with some amazing creatures.

Like humpback whales...

In this picture alone, you can see three.  The "humped back" of one, the fin of another, and the spray from a third.

An enormous mouth coming up out of the water.

And two swimming close by each other, the tail of one going down and the blowhole of another cruising along the surface.

And then the stellar sea lions...

We saw them first just splashing around with the whales.  But then, our captain took us out to this little island and we were treated to this show -

I love how you see the flippers on this one.

At one point, a whole group saw right over to the boat and were looking at us just as we were looking at them.

The pictures really do not capture the sheer size of the whales (the naturalist on board said to have in your minds something that is the size of a yellow school bus and weighs as much as 7 African elephants) or the sounds coming from the sea lions (Addy said she at first thought it was a helicopter overhead).  I took some video but between the wind and the sound of the boat, not a whole lot comes through but you at least get a taste.  Come visit and we'll take you out!

Thanks for this adventure goes to Allen Marine who worked with the Girl Scouts of Juneau to offer this whale watching cruise at deep discount as a volunteer appreciation.  The cruise itself was great but it was fun to have the boat filled Girl Scouts friends and their families.  Our captain is even a Daisy troop leader herself.