On our second day in Haida Gwaii, the sun shone brightly for our visit to a former village, a group of mortuary poles, and the surrounding forest. Everyone was moved by the stories told by our Watchmen guides at the site. Walking through the forest was quite magical as the light dappled the trees and illuminated the mosses and lichen. Mostly everyone also went out on a Zodiac cruise to see the landscape and wildlife from the water. After returning to National Geographic Sea Bird, we were all interrupted at dinner to see fin, sei, and humpback whales spouting in an area known for upwelling.
5/10/2025
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National Geographic Sea Bird
Tracy Arm
As we continued our way north through Alaska, we had a favorite stop of mine in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness. We had a rainy day, which I enjoy because we can see at higher elevations since the rain turns to snow and, in turn, the snow feeds the absorption zone of the Sawyer Glaciers. We went out in the Zodiacs and navigated around the icebergs and bergy bits, even collecting a piece for the ice melt-off challenge. Once underway out of Tracy Arm, we saw some humpback whales. One whale had an entanglement of line on its fluke. The line was causing an obvious cut to the marine mammal. The correct authorities were notified about the condition of the whale and location of the sighting. Hopefully the whale will be assisted soon and the entanglement removed. Several other humpbacks were seen shortly after, luckily no entanglements on these. They were demonstrating surface feeding behavior, with one lunge feeding and the other making bubbles to catch its prey.
