After a great day of scuba diving, inflatable tours, zodiac kayaking (kayaking with a comfort boat ie. zodiac, tagging along behind with beverages, refreshments and an easy way to get home if you get tired of paddling) and whale watching around Inian Island, we took everybody ashore after dinner for a “look-around” the tiny boardwalk community of Elfin Cove. Our guests somehow got waylaid at the Coho Bar and Grill and bartender introduced them to “duck farts.” The Nautilus Explorer was anchored outside the Cove and during the various inflatable shuttles back to the boat it seemed that all we heard from our guests was “we want more duck farts”, “I’d like a duck fart waiting for me please”, “do you know how to make duck farts” and so on.
Read MoreI made a fast 180° turn in the Nautilus to keep them in sight and was taken aback when I realized that they were swarming a large adult humpback whale. It was hard to see exactly what was going on because of all the splashing. I assumed that the orcas were actually attacking a humpback whale calf and that the mom was defending her offspring from the orcas. Despite all the excited splashing and fin slapping and all the other stuff going on, we weren’t able to see a calf and can only assume that the orcas took a run at the adult humpback. I’ve never heard of such a thing before!
Read MoreSome of the ‘bergs were at least 3 times the size of the Nautilus. Our scuba divers had a fabulous time regardless under a clear blue sky without a breath of wind in the nice warm sunshine. As always, our guests got to go kayaking in the ice and splash around in their drysuits and climb up the smaller bergs. Our lovely hostesses are taking our service levels to new heights with the delivery of “adult beverages” by kayak to divers sitting on icebergs!! Now that would be a great promotional image!
Read MoreYaayyhhh Shushartie Bay! It’s such a great place to visit. We are usually able to observe lots of black bears on the beach, the shore hiking is great (unless you run into a black bear!) and the kayaking is excellent. Dillon Rock is a famous dive site and is a pinnacle that barely breaks the surface at the entrance to Shushartie Bay. Regardless of the visibility, it is always a crowd-pleasing dive with lots of wolf-eels (7 at last count), lots of giant Pacific octopus (gpd’s to use the local vernacular), a beautiful kelp forest, rare vermillion rock-fish and loads of ratfish swimming around on the flats just off the rock.
Read MoreThe outer cleaning station (one of our favourite dives at Socorro Island, first recommended to us by cinematographer Bob Cranston) had very good dive conditions with calm seas and mild current, five scalloped hammerhead sharks and one Galapagos shark. One giant manta ray cruising by didn’t seem interested in interacting with the divers. And, of course, the ever-present silky sharks shadowed the divers, curious but not aggressive.
Read MoreIt was a sunny, hot and cloudless day. The visibility was great, we could hear the humpback whales singing underwater, dolphins were interacting with us, we saw lots of really cute juvenile silky sharks as well as white tip reef sharks hiding in caves in the coral gardens, turtles, loads of fish, aggressive Socorro lobsters, schooling wahoo and, of course, giant manta rays.
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