Icy Strait Point, Day 10

Today we took a 2.5 hour wildlife and whale watching cruise from Icy Strait Point

Fancy walkway from the dock to town

and within the first 30 minutes 

Barnacles

we were watching a mama brown bear and her 3 cubs walking and playing on the shore. 

Mama and cubs

Worth the price of the tour right there!

Brothers

The boat was an inclosed catamaran 

Our sister ship

with comfortable seats,

lots of windows,

and open decks in front, back and above.

We saw a surprising number of whales (probably 10 or more individuals) -

most were in the distance,

where we could mainly see them blowing,

but a couple were close enough to see clearly. 

The magic of zooming-in

We also saw hundreds of sea birds (tap to enlarge),

a crazy number of salmon jumping and spinning in the air,

Belly flopping salmon

sea otters, 

Otter

harbor seals and more. 

Bow spray

Usually, we spend all day in each port, arriving around 7 or 8 am and leaving around dinner time. 

But today we were underway at 2:30, giving us time to visit the Commodore Club, our favorite hangout, where we saw even more whales! 

Tomorrow we’re in Ketchikan for shopping and maybe some sightseeing.