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Rare sight seeing humpback whales bubble-net feeding in Alaska

by Dailyn Matthews | Mar 17, 2024 | Blog

While standing on the water’s edge at said sanctuary, I got a call from my dear friend Alice asking if I wanted to go to ALASKA! I can’t type the exact response, but I know I don’t need to. I was to assist her on an adventure cruise for a company called Uncruise.

Words fail me when I try to explain how this voyage affected me. It was a total mind, body, spirit reset. We had a blast traveling together. She is a talented travel host & filmmaker and absolutely wacky fun. Two excursions a day off the ship had us bushwacking, kayaking, paddleboarding, skiffing & learning about the islands around Southeast Alaska. The crew & expedition team were phenomenal. Our meals were spent conversing and dining with the other passengers without distraction of phones or internet. Our talent show performance was a ditty about the beloved crew set to the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song. We passed out every night exhausted with huge smiles on our faces.

I cannot recommend this adventure enough – let me know if you want to know more.

Once we hit the shore, but felt so out of sorts that we just kept moving from boat to ferry to train to plane. One of the most spectacular events I’ve ever witnessed was on Astral’s whale watching boat. (Another new awesome friend with an exceptional name.) Strolling the boardwalk in Juneau, we stopped to ask advice about a hike. Astral said we should take the boat tour because they were bubble-net feeding. Alice said yes and I replied, “I don’t know what that is, but I guess we’re going!”

On my first trip, there was a pod of 17 humpbacks working together to efficiently feed. Blowing bubbles from their blowholes, they create a ball of herring/krill and then all come up to the surface with their mouths open scooping up the fish. I still get goosebumps describing it.

For someone that is in awe of nature constantly, this blew me away as one of the most extraordinary feats I have ever seen. Over and over again, like some Planet Earth show, expecting to hear Sir David Attenborough describe the scene, the whales emerged as I tried to steady the long lens of my camera, still my shaking hands, balance the swaying of the boat and not weep from it all.

When the whales cruised right next to the boat spraying us, creating a rainbow in their wake, I screamed, “I just got sprayed with whale juju and I’m never showering again. I don’t care if I smell like herring!”

Rare sight seeing humpback whales bubble-net feeding in Alaska

Truth.

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