Frogg Toggs

Sunday, 29 August

About midway into our first day in Kodiak, one thing became very clear to us — our rain jackets just weren’t going to hold up well in Kodiak’s soggy weather. Bulky though they are, we should have taken the parkas we were gifted by Quark on our Antarctica voyage. Too late for that.

We considered re-spraying the jackets as a quick fix, but voted down that idea pretty quickly and moved on to plan B. After talking to a couple of locals, we headed off to check out Cy’s Sporting Goods. After all, with a motto like “Come naked and we’ll outfit you!!!” how could they fail to have the right rain jackets for us.

We both fell in love with the bright-orange, paper-thin, ultra-waterproof Grundens slickers that Cy showed us. But there was a problem; the sleeves reached almost to my knees. OK, that’s an exaggeration, but the sleeves were way too long. And, they didn’t have Mui’s size in stock.

I have to admit that we were quite perplexed by the next brand that Cy showed us. The Frogg Toggs jackets looked like they were made of paper; durable tyvek paper, but paper nonetheless. “It’s breathable and it’s 100% waterproof,” Cy commented as he helped me on with a cherry-purple jacket. Seeing the incredulity on our faces, he went on to tell us that many of the Kodiak fishermen used this brand to stay dry on the high seas.

Figuring we could return the Frogg Toggs for something else if they didn’t hold up after a wet day of exploring the island, we decided to purchase them. But, the cherry-purple color was really, really, really ugly. “Find me a model in black, and you’ve got a deal,” I said.

And guess what? We stayed dry! Not just in Kodiak, but also on the skiff rides to and from shore on the Katmai Peninsula, as well as during our soggy last day in Anchorage. The DriPore technology, described as having “pores 20,000 times smaller than a water droplet” really worked. Word to the wise — buy one size larger if you plan to wear warm layers under the jacket; I felt (and looked) a bit like the Pillsbury Dough Girl (taking artistic license here) in the medium size I bought.

Waders and Frogg Toggs … the latest in bear-watching attire!
(a photo op with “arthritis bear” at hallo bay, katmai peninsula)
[photo courtesy of lindsay]

Frogg Toggs gets two thumbs up from these two intrepid bear watchers!

Back to Kodiak; Back to Rain

Saturday, 21 August

Not only are we back in Kodiak, but we’re almost out of here, too. It’s 9:00p, and we’re at the airport, waiting for our flight to Anchorage. It will be Sunday by the time we land at Ted Stevens International. We didn’t plan it this way; we were supposed to be on a 4:00p flight. A few months ago, when Alaska Airlines canceled the flight we’d booked, we were transferred to the only other available departure — an ERA flight at 11:20p.

No use moaning; it is what it is. I might as well put the time to good use and do some blog-writing.

After overnighting in “No Name Bay” last night, we were up at 6:30a for the final short leg of our boat trip into Kodiak. The clear, blue skies we’d been enjoying were already replaced by overcast, and the closer we got to Kodiak the steadier the rain became. We didn’t dally along the way, except to make a quick stop at a bird rookery where thousands of black-legged kittiwakes nest. The rain dulled the scenery a bit, but I took a couple of shots anyway.

Trust me, these cliffs are covered with black-legged kittiwakes.

Getting closer …

… and closer to the kittiwakes and their companion, a cormorant.

Shortly after noon, the familiar sights of Kodiak were welcoming us back to the island as well as the town.

This cheerful sign is on the back of the Kodiak Visitor Center.

When we were touring the town before our boat trip, we’d come across the Star of Kodiak, a ship that has been in use as a cannery since it was brought to the island after the 1964 tsunami. It turns out that the vessel was the last Liberty ship built in 1945 to serve as a cargo transport during World War II. Back then, it was named Albert M Boe (after a merchant seaman who was killed in 1944).

The Star of Kodiak was brought to the island to function as
a cannery following the tsunami of 1964.

(As an aside, in June 2008 we sailed the SS John W Brown, one of two surviving fully operational Liberty ships. It was a poignant cruise into history. If you’d like to see photographs from that day, click here. And for those interested, there’s more information about the Liberty ships here.)

It was 1:00p by the time the Single Star was docked in St Herman Harbor. Kim was there to greet and escort us all to the airport. Eberhard and Lindsay had seats on the 3:00p flight, and we were hoping that we might be able to switch to that flight as well. It was a no go.

If only Alaska Airlines had not canceled our flight!

After bidding our boatmates goodbye, Kim drove us back to town. Leaving our bags with her, we headed off to have lunch and enjoy a few hours of sightseeing. The grilled halibut at Henry’s was as good as we remembered. We washed our meal down with a couple of Rainier beers and skipped dessert in lieu of a couple of ice cream cones later.

Since the rain didn’t look like it was going to let up anytime soon, we decided to check out a couple of museums after lunch. Our timing was off for the Baranov and Alutiiq museums, so we returned to the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center instead. The place was quiet and warm, and the interesting exhibits and short documentary videos kept us occupied for several hours.

Kodiak Wonders
a gift from the Kodiak Bear Paw Quilters

Skeleton of a gray whale that washed ashore on Pasagshak Beach.
(28 may 2000)

After our recent experience with whales, albeit different species than the one on display at the Refuge VC, it’s no wonder that I spent a considerable amount of time at this particular exhibit. From the historic photos on the wall, I was able to piece together a bit of the story of how the whale was found and how it eventually ended up at the VC.

When Stacy Studebaker, a retired Kodiak high school biology teacher,
found this male gray whale dead on the beach, she recognized that
the intact carcass would make a beautiful skeletal display and a
superb community marine education project.

On June 1, 2000, just a few days after it was discovered, the whale was
buried in a 45-foot (13.5 m) trench beneath 10 feet (3 m) of soil to allow
the decomposition of the whale's flesh to take place underground.

In August 2004, the whale was ready to be dug up. One by one, the bones were
removed from the pit by hand and transported for cleaning and temporary storage.

Three years later, in August 2007, the whale skeleton was transported
in five pieces and reconstructed at the new visitor center.

Migration Casualty at Three Saints Bay
Kodiak bears begin to feast on a dead gray whale.
(On loan from the Kodiak Gray Whale Project - 2008)

When the Refuge VC closed at 5:00p, we headed to the Best Western Kodiak Inn to kill another hour before we were due to meet Kim and Lee. Couldn’t we have found somewhere else to go? Sure, but we knew there was free wi-fi at the hotel. So, sipping a glass of wine in the lounge overlooking the harbor, we made contact with the outside world, letting loved ones know that we’d returned to Kodiak safe and sound.

Around 6:30p, Kim and Lee picked us up for dinner. I was surprised when we headed in the direction of the airport as I didn’t recall seeing any restaurants along the way. It turns out they were taking us to the Buskin Riverside Restaurant on the premises of the Comfort Inn at the airport. Not a place where one might expect to find gourmet food, but we were all in for a surprise. Chef Brian’s parmesan crusted halibut turned out to be one of the best seafood dinners we’ve ever enjoyed. Our thanks to Kim and Lee for a fun evening that we will remember fondly whenever we think of our bear trip.

Well, looks like I need to wrap up. The terminal is starting to fill up and boarding time is fast approaching.

The Alutiiq (the indigenous people who have inhabited Kodiak for over 7,500 years) have a simple, two-syllable word of welcome — Cama’i. They don’t have a similar word to say farewell. You actually have to use a more-difficult-to-pronounce phrase that means “I’ll see you sometime.” So in the tradition of the Alutiiq, we leave Kodiak with the words Tang'rciqamken camiku.

Captain, There Be Whales Here

Friday, 20 August: Part III

Spock: To hunt a species to extinction is not logical.
Gillian: Whoever said the human race was logical?

From the Movie, “Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home”

OK, OK … before all the diehard Star Trek fans get on my case, I admit that Scotty actually said “Admiral,” when he called up to Kirk to tell him that he had successfully beamed a pair of humpback whales aboard the Klingon Bird of Prey. I’m taking some artistic license here since it better fits our situation.

Leaving the Orcas behind in the Shelikof Strait, we continued our crossing to Kodiak. Along the way, Dall porpoises joined us for a bit, but they were so fast that I decided it was best to put the camera down and just enjoy their antics. But when we encountered whales a short while later, all bets were off and the camera came out again.

It was a sighting of fin whales in the Kupreanof Strait that brought us back on deck first. There were several of them, and unlike the ones we’d seen on the first day of our boat trip, they stuck around for a while.

Growing to 88 feet (27 m) in length, the fins are the second largest of the whale species. They’re also the second largest living animal on earth after the blue whale. As was the case with most of the large whales, they were hunted to near extinction; they remain on the endangered species list. They rarely, if ever, show their flukes when diving. (For more info, click here.)

Most experts consider the fin whales of the North Pacific to be a third, as yet
unnamed species. The other two species are the north Atlantic and
the Antarctic populations.

While we were enjoying the company of the fins, their more acrobatic cousins — humpback whales — showed up. A member of baleen whales, the humpbacks are smaller than fin whales. They grow only to a range of 39–52 feet (12-16 m) in length. They are found in all of the oceans and migrate long distances between their feeding and breeding areas (the ones we saw are members of the population that feeds in Alaska and breeds in Hawaii). The humpbacks were also hunted to near extinction. Though they’ve made a remarkable comeback, they remain on the endangered species list. (For more information, click here.)

This is one of the most common views one gets of a humpback whale.
(note how much smaller the dorsal fin is compared to that of a fin whale)

At first there were just one or two whales. Soon though, there were so many blows, near and far, that I gave up trying to keep track of the count. They were on all sides of the boat, exhibiting all kinds of behavior. They slapped their pectoral fins, showed their flukes in shallow and deep dives, and best of all … they fed using a method known as bubblenet feeding.

Unlike fin whales, humpbacks display their fluke when they dive.

Have to admit that I didn't even see the puffin in front of
the whale until I looked at the photograph on the laptop screen.

The birds scavenge whatever the humpbacks churn up to the surface.

A deep dive usually is a sign that the whale will be gone for a while.
This time, though, I think this is just a prelude to bubblenet feeding.

So, what is bubblenet feeding? Here’s a description from a lesson plan I found on the National Geographic Expeditions website:

… (also known as lunge feeding), in which a group of whales works together to capture large schools of herring.

Each whale has its own role in the process: one blows bubbles around the herring school to keep the fish from escaping, others vocalize to scare or confuse the fish and help bring them to the surface, and others herd the fish together and upwards. Once the fish are at the surface, all the whales lunge upwards with their huge mouths wide open and try to gulp as many herring as they can.

I have to admit that I was so entranced with seeing humpbacks bubblenet feeding that I forgot to take pictures at first. Luckily, they repeated the behavior several times and I was able to remedy that lapse.

With its mouth open, the humpback becomes a giant scooper.

OK, so again, I converted the images to black and white, but here are a few that I kept in color as the details were getting lost in the conversion. (See if you can find the puffin scampering out of the way as the whale closes its mouth.)

Glimpse of the baleen for which the species is named.
the baleen functions like a sieve, allowing the whale to filter krill,
plankton, and small fish from large mouthfuls of seawater.

The ventral pleats expand, allowing the humpback to take in copious
amounts of water when it is feeding.

Bye, Bye!
(last shot as this whale dived under the single star)

As the whales moved farther away, we moved on, too. Eberhard had his heart set on photographing puffins in the golden afternoon light, but it wasn’t to be. By the time we arrived at the rookery, the birds were long gone.

a lone puffin resting after a fishing expedition.
(yes, i managed to get a bit of a reflection too)

Even though spending time with the whales meant that we missed the opportunity to photograph the puffins, I have no regrets. We got to see some of our favorite whales displaying a behavior that neither Mui nor I had seen before. As the MasterCard ad says, “Priceless!”

Wolves of the Sea

Friday, 20 August: Part II

Captain Nolan: Can you commit a sin against an animal?
Priest: Why, you can commit a sin against a blade of grass. Sins are really against oneself.

From the movie, “Orca”

The wolf on the beach at Hallo Bay may not have cooperated with us, but I sure can’t say the same thing about the Wolves of the Sea — better known as Orcas or Killer Whales.

Following a lunch of fish & chips, we left Hallo Bay around 1:30p and began the crossing back to Kodiak. The Shelikof Strait was being good to us, but there was enough movement to rock me asleep for a good portion of the crossing. I woke to Mui bursting into the stateroom to tell me that there were Orcas up ahead. I was up in an instant and on deck with my camera. Boy, oh boy; what I time we had!

Most people’s knowledge of this magnificent ocean creature comes from either movies, like Orca (NOT my favorite movie, by the way) and Free Willy, or from captive animals that perform in places like SeaWorld. That’s a shame really as nothing can hold a candle to seeing them in the wild.

Here they come!

Orcas are a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Though some feed on fish only, others hunt marine mammals such as seals and sea lions, and even whales. Very social animals, they travel in family pods that range from 2 to 75 animals; sometimes even more. Some of the pods are resident; they don’t travel far and wide, and they mostly feed on fish and squid. Others are transient; they are the hunters that tend to travel in very small groups. Still others are considered to be offshore populations; they travel in big groups. (For those who’d like more information, you can start with this link, which includes audio files of the vocalization of Orcas.)

At first I thought there were four Orcas in the waters around us, but looking back through my photos, what I thought was a fourth dorsal fin might have been a pectoral fin … I think; I’m still not sure.

What do you think? How many Orcas are in this picture ... 3 or 4?

In any event, we had a grand time with them. They swam around and under the boat, surfacing right next to us at times. They were playing with us; no doubt about it. One of them even graced us with a breach, throwing it’s body high out of the water and landing with a huge splash.

Any closer and this one would be in the boat with us.

I’m afraid I only caught the tail end of the breach.
(you can see the full breach here … good job Lindsay)

This one swam under the boat to surface next to me.
the black coloring in the white saddle patch around the dorsal fin is a
good indication that this orca is a member of a resident pod.

Bye, Bye!

So why, B&W and not color photos. I simply didn’t like all that blue sea as a background for these beautiful black and white creatures. That said, I did keep one color shot … it was the only way to show the pale rainbow effect in the blow.

This wasn’t our first encounter with the Wolves of the Sea; but this one was the best.

Birds, Otters, and Whales

Sunday, 15 August

When we were planning this trip, Lee had asked about our interests. “The bears, of course;” we had responded, adding “but any and all wildlife would be welcome … birds, eagles, otters, seals, sea lions, whales, and anything else you can show us, including great landscapes.” Our boat trip from Kodiak to Onion Bay today gave us some of the things on our wish list.

We had a wonderful afternoon of wildlife viewing. That we had sunshine and clear skies for the second half of the day made the sightings that much more pleasurable. We visited bird rookeries and saw glaucous-winged gulls, black-legged kittiwakes, oyster catchers, cormorants, and puffins; we followed (from a respectable distance) fin and humpback whales traveling through the Kupreanof Strait; and we spent time with a raft of sea otters busy grooming themselves in the mid-afternoon sun.

I’ll let the photographs tell the story …

the fin whale is the 2nd largest whale and the 2nd largest
living animal after the blue whale. though We gave this one a chance
to play with us, it was too busy traveling to accommodate us.

Black-Legged Kittiwakes are small, cliff-nesting gulls.
The name is derived from its call, a shrill “kittee-wa-aaake, kitte-wa-aaake”.

Black-Legged Kittiwakes with chicks.
Unlike other gull chicks, which wander around as soon as they can walk,
kittiwake chicks instinctively sit still in the nest to avoid falling off.

Glaucous-Winged Gull
“Glaucous” is a Latin term that describes the pale gray coloration
of this gull species.

Glaucous-Winged Gulls with Chicks.
A single brood is laid from late May to July, consisting of 2-3 eggs.

Left: American black Oyster Catcher with Chick.
If the parents migrate, the chicks migrate with them.
Right: pelagic cormorant with sleeping chicks.
the nest is built from stringy plants, such as grasses or seaweed,
and held together by the birds' own guano.

Tufted Puffins in Flight.
puffins can fly 48-55 mph (77-88 kph). They beat their wings rapidly
to achieve this speed, reaching up to 400 beats a minute.

Tufted Puffin
the largest of the puffins, this species is named for the straw-colored
feathers extending back from its crown during the mating season.

Horned Puffin
this species gets its name from the horny projections that
extend above its eyes.

Raft of Sea Otters
their primary form of insulation, an exceptionally thick coat of fur,
the densest in the animal kingdom, caused the sea otter
to be hunted to near-extinction.
they remain on the endangered species list.

The fur of the sea otter consists of long, waterproof guard hairs
and short underfur. the ability of the guard hairs to repel water depends
on utmost cleanliness. sea otters spend a lot of time grooming their fur.
their loose skin and unusually supple skeleton allows them to reach and
groom the fur on any part of their body.

Curious Old man
because of their white whiskers, sea otters are known to sailors
and fishermen as ”old men of the sea.”

Humpback Whale traveling through the Kupreanof Strait.
one of the larger species of baleen whales, they typically migrate long
distances between their breeding and feeding grounds.

A pretty good day of wildlife viewing, wouldn’t you say? Now, it’s time to rest. And Lee has certainly brought us to a great place — no, make that a gorgeous place — so that we can do just that.

For dinner, Lindsay served us a hearty chicken dish — her grandmother’s recipe. Now, Mui and I are sitting on the flybridge, enjoying the tranquility of Onion Bay. It’s warmish; meaning we have no need of our layers. When the breeze kicks up, though, it’s chilly and we’re glad to have the protection of our windbreakers. After the exceptionally hot summer we’ve been having in the DC area, these temperatures are more than welcome.

We have green-clad mountains dappled by sunlight on three sides and blue skies above. The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. The camera simply can’t do justice to it, but I’ll show you a picture anyway.

With no human settlements nearby, we have Onion Bay to ourselves.

Proof that "Two to Travel" is in Onion Bay.

An Old Man of the Sea floats up to the single star to say goodnight!

And so the first day of our boat trip comes to a close. Tomorrow, we head across the Shelikof — the bears are waiting for us.