After such a wonderful day at the glacier, it was time to head for our next spot, Holkham Bay. It has another name, Sumdum Bay named after the nearby hanging glacier. It serves as the gateway to the wilderness area we were in the previous day. This vast wilderness area spans over 653,000 acres of glacially carved fiord and steep cliffs. The Sumdum Glacier is a hanging glacier, and we could see it from our balcony. A hanging glacier is one that has receded and no longer touches the water. It is also home to many marine mammals including Humpback Whales and several seal species. We sailed through the Stephens Passage where Humpback whales are known to come. They search these nutrient-rich waters to feed on tiny creatures like krill — shrimp-like organisms and small, schooling fish like herring. These behemoths of the sea can reach 40-feet in length and weigh 40,000 pounds. Who knows, we might even see sea otters, or even an orca or two.
The Captain and the Expedition Director had decided to linger here for the day and give us all time to search for and view animal life. One of the great features of this type of cruise is that we can change our plans on a whim and the boat can be maneuvered much more nimbly than the larger ships. The water was pretty calm so first off the Kayaks were launched giving all those hardy souls their first taste of paddling across these waters. We watched as they left the boat and headed toward the nearest island. We would love to kayak however, knees etc. just won’t allow it.
We were happy to hang out on our balcony and watch the scenery roll past. Of course, there were talks planned and we joined our new friends for one on binocular usage. At first I thought it was a silly idea for a talk. But I was wrong. I have never felt comfortable nor been successful using them. In this beautiful place, they are great for spotting wildlife. By the end of the talk, I found I could adjust them and bring into focus the world before me. Who would have thought?
Later, there was a discussion about using cameras both cell phone cameras and regular cameras. Now this one we really wanted to attend. We were not disappointed either. We learned a number of tricks and discovered several functions we had no idea were there. Funny, modern technology is wonderful but most of us do not fully know how to use it. In the midst of the talk, the loudspeaker announced, “whales off the port side”. As you can imagine, the talk was put on pause as everyone hurried to nearest viewing point.
We chose to go up to the open deck 8. At first, all we could see was the “blow” as the whales surfaced to take a breath. Suddenly, a whale emerged from the water and came crashing down with a huge splash. Almost immediately, he breached and gave us a great view of the fluke or tail. There was a group of them including adults and juveniles. The Captain had maneuvered the Victory to bring us around and came to a stop so everyone could have a closer look. The whales circled around one side and continued to breach and roll and slap the ocean with their flippers. It was quite an exciting show. Finally, I stopped photographing and just stood and watch in awe of the wonderful creatures, after all the mind is the best camera of all.
Back inside, the talk resumed. Since 90+ percent of the passengers are seniors, there were lots and lots of questions. It was a challenge for our speaker given there were all sorts of phones from Android, Google and iPhones as well as late, new and older than dirt! Too funny. But he handled all the questions with the patience of Job. Before he finished, again the speaker announced, “Seals off the port side.” The rush was on to get outside to catch a look at these Sea Lions, not Seals. I am lucky to have a zoom lens so most of my pictures do show the Lions clearly instead of looking like brown dots on the shore line. There were dozens of them hauled out sunning themselves. You could hear their barking as and squabbled among themselves. What a treat. Again, the Captain had maneuvered the Victory closer to the island to give everyone the best chance to see and photograph the group. What an amazing boat the Victory is for sure. He can actually change the ballast when they are launching the kayaks and Zodiacs to bring the launch opening down to the level of the boats. Pretty cool.
Finally time came for the Captain to head out in the direction of our next stop. Tomorrow we would visit Petersburg, Southeast Alaska’s Little Norway. But first, another sumptuous dinner and a good night’s sleep.
Sumdum Glacier
Whales Ho!
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