Alaska: Ketchikan Kayaking and Orcas in Victoria (Canada)

From Sitka, Alaska, we headed to Ketchikan just in time to celebrate Independence Day.  

The town was preparing for their big July 4 parade. It would have been fun to join them, but our destination was the Tatoosh Islands for some kayaking.

What a beautiful place to kayak, and the weather was perfect. Well, it started out with a hint of rain, as always, but by the time we got in the tandem kayaks the sun was fully shining. The water was surprisingly clear, too, and that meant we could see sea stars, jellyfish, and other marine life pretty well. Above is a Purple Ochre Sea Star, a keystone species. It helps encourage marine life diversity by controlling populations of the Common Mussel.

This baby Harbor seal popped its head up as we headed through a mini channel between rocks. A bald eagle stood watch from a rock near one of the Tatoosh Islands. It truly is a majestic bird and quite big — an adult can weigh up to 14 pounds.  Bald eagles are stubborn birds. If they catch a fish too heavy to fly with, rather than drop it they’ll swim along awkwardly with their wings serving as paddles. Our final cruise stop was Victoria, British Columbia — a brief visit to Canada. I’d heard how beautiful this city is, but I’ll have to visit another time to truly see it. Our families voted to go look for killer whales, and so it was back to the ocean for us again. While boarding the tour boat, these Canada Geese swam over for a hello. It was nice getting to see Canada Geese while actually in Canada.

The waters near Vancouver Island are home to many killer whales, all 3 primary types. Resident pods specialize in fish, typically salmon. Offshore killer whales hunt large oceanic fish and sharks. Transient orcas are the mammal hunters, looking for seals, sea lions, porpoises, dolphins, and whales. The three groups don’t intermix and they have different communication signals.

We watched a small family of resident orcas. They were very focused on foraging for fish in the kelp-heavy waters. The killer whales were remarkably calm in their approach to getting food — swimming at easy speeds and occasionally curving into a deeper dive.
Who would have thought watching killer whales would prove to be a relaxing activity?

A beautiful sunset brought closure to our cruise. The next day, we spent a remaining tourist day in Seattle with our larger family group, and the boys and I prepped for the camping leg of our journey.