Duck F*rts

By on July 19th, 2008 in Archive

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.

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Humpback Whales, Orcas and a Mystery Dive

By on July 17th, 2008 in Archive

Point Adolphus is one of the most productive feeding grounds in southeast Alaska and the humpback whale sightings are usually quite awesome. Today was no exception, starting off with a pod of orcas cruising along on the surface 15 miles east of Adolphus and then loads of humpbacks right at the point.

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More Helicopters than Dragonflies

By on July 16th, 2008 in Archive

Today was turnover day and as I sat in my office doing paperwork, I happened to look out the window and just about fell over in astonishment. I’ve never seen so many helicopters flying at one time – not even at the height of a forest fire in my previous life as a water bomber pilot. It seemed like there were helicopters everywhere with one group of 7 flying in a line towards Mendenhall and at least 6 more flying back the other way. They looked just like dragonflies to my eye and it was a sight that I won’t soon forget.

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Humpback Whale Gets Attacked by a Pod of Orcas

By on July 9th, 2008 in Archive

I 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!

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Grizzly Bears on the Left, Humpback Whales on the Right, Eagles and Sea Lions Everywhere

By on June 26th, 2008 in Archive

Our poor guests  – some folks were on the port side of the ship watching the bears (which got especially interesting when the grizzlies spotted something further down the beach and got up on their hind legs to get a better view) while other guests were on the starboard side watching the fantastic humpback whale action. And some poor guests were running back and forth to both sides of the boat trying to watch everything at once!!

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Ripple Rock

By on June 15th, 2008 in Archive

We steamed through Seymour Narrows early this morning and anchored later in the Pearse Island group to stage a couple of scuba dives. Pearse Island is located halfway between the very well known dive site at Stubbs Island and Telegraph Cove, the whale watching capital of B.C. (and sure enough, we got to see 4 orcas westbound in Johnstone Strait this morning as well as some very speedy, agile and acrobatic Dall’s porpoises close to Telegraph Cove).  Steaming through Seymour Narrows is usually quite interesting and I am comfortable taking the Nautilus Explorer through with up to 8 knots of current on the tail. I can tell you that we have seen some very impressive whirlpools on some passages.

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Giant Manta Rays Dance with Scuba Divers

By on March 23rd, 2008 in Archive

We anchored so that we could swim to the dive site, and with no current and very little waves, we had an open deck for the day so guests were free to dive whenever they felt like. Between dives, a lot of guests chose to accompany Marco, our chief mate, on a tour of the shoreline to see the arches and pinnacles and whale watch. From the Nautilus we watched a young humpback whale leap multiple times out of the water followed by an adult humpback breaching creating some wonderful photographic opportunities.

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