humpback whales – Riveted

Alaska Has No Clue How to Edit

Laura Domela — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 03:50:47 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

One of the most important things I learned in art school was how to edit. So many students try to cram every idea they have and every technique they know into each piece they make, and one of the biggest challenges for professors is to get students to see that “less is more” and that too much stuff can overwhelm the audience. There’s an elegance in the simplicity of a piece of art that’s been pared down to its bare essence. Some of the most difficult things to design are the pieces that seem the most minimal, and most artists and designers struggle with this throughout their careers.

ALASKA TOTALLY DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO EDIT!

We woke up this Sunday morning in Flynn Cove with eagles flying overhead, otters swimming nearby, and salmon jumping out of the water all around the boat. While I was making breakfast (salmon cakes using the Coho we’d caught on our way into Flynn Cove last night, topped with an over easy egg and hollandaise sauce) Kevin grabbed the crappy little telescoping fishing rod that we used to throw in the kayak bag, and put a spoon on it and went out and reeled in a 5 pound pink salmon. Before breakfast. How ’bout that?

While we were heading out of the cove (past the humpback whale near the shore), we hooked another big Coho.

After a bit more trolling for salmon, we dropped the anchor in 120 feet of water to fish for halibut in a spot not too far from Flynn Cove (where we planned to spend another night). While that was going on and we were sipping a beer on the upper deck, across Icy Strait from the entrance to Glacier Bay National Park, two humpbacks were basically circling our boat, grazing at the surface the entire time we were fishing.

We came back into Flynn Cove to anchor for the evening and to cook up some fish tacos for dinner with the rockfish and salmon we caught today… (oh, did I forget to mention the rockfish? we also caught rockfish) …anyway, while we were heating the tortillas on the grill, some harbor porpoises came into the cove and swam around our boat for 45 minutes or so (of course, because, you know, that whole editing issue).

One of the many salmon jumping around the cove:

We ate our fish tacos (delicious) and then noticed that the sky was turning a beautiful blend of pastel pinks and blues, so we went out on the bow to watch the sunset.

Pretty, isn’t it? But no, Alaska can’t stop at a beautiful sunset, a tiny wooded island in the foreground, and the mountains of Glacier Bay behind. Alaska needs to add some humpbacks, tail- and fin-slapping, right there along with the F you sunset:

(You can click to see these two a little bigger if you want.)

(The only way I even got these shots is because I was ALREADY looking through my lens taking photos of the sunset.)

Here are the rest of the photos. I don’t even know what to say about them. “Ooooooh. Aaaaaaah. So pretty. Sunset. Barf. Whatever.”

And there’s no audio with these photos, but I’ll also tell you that there were wolves howling occasionally as we sat there on the bow of the boat, wondering where the hell we were where this was normal.

Oh, and then the moon rose, and I went up to the pilot house of the rocking boat with my zoom lens and managed to get this shot:

Let’s do this again tomorrow, Alaska!

Leaving Ford’s Terror, and Humpbacks All Day

Laura Domela — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 15:55:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Quiet morning in Ford's Terror:

Also, another black bear on shore (taken from Airship):

We left Ford's Terror at the first high tide (about 20 minutes after high slack in Juneau, and there was just a little bit of current at the pinch point as we came out).

Fissures in the steep cliffs on our way out:

This water!

The narrow spot, looking pretty calm:

Deke had his GoPro on the bow and has been recording a bunch of video for time lapse…we'll be posting that later on after he has a chance to do some video editing.

Looking back at the "terror":

What a fabulous experience, being in this remote spot for two nights…definitely one of the highlights of this trip.

Back out in Endicott Arm we saw what looked like a very strange rock (one that didn't look like any other rocks around it on land)….turns out it was not a rock at all, but a dirty iceberg!

Glacier on our way back out into Stephens Passage:

We decided to go all the way to Kake today, for some internet and cell service. On the way to Kake as we approached Kupreanof Island, we started seeing humpbacks. We saw more humpbacks than we could even count. Deke put the GoPro out on the bow and got some good video while we hung out and watched them. (Just above Deke's hat…that's a whale.)

Mama and baby humpback were super cute.

We got to see our first breach (by the baby!) I wasn’t fast enough to get the full out-of-the-water shot, but you get the idea:

I tried to narrow down the photos and only keep the best ones, but there are still a lot of whale photos. So here you go, people who asked for more whale photos.

SO. MANY. HUMPBACKS!

Patos Island (and Humpback Whales!)

Laura Domela — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 00:31:51 +0000

This morning (while it was still raining) we decided to head out for Patos Island, northwest of Sucia. The forecast said it was to be improving for the weekend. It looked like a cruise of about 3.5 hours from Anacortes to Patos Island, and our plan was to grab one of the two mooring buoys in Active Bay at Patos (figuring off season we'd have a pretty good shot).

As we approached the picturesque lighthouse on Alden Point, we saw something large in the water up ahead, with a bunch of birds flocking around and over it. Kevin said, "Orcas!" I said "I don't think so…I didn't see any tall straight dorsal fins, and this thing was HUGE!"

Turns it it was humpbacks! Two of them! And they were close.

We hung out with them for a little bit, snapping photos. (I can't believe I left my long lens at home, again…but I really thought we were just coming for the weekend, and not going out on the boat at all this time. It will not happen again.)

It was SO amazing to be this close to these HUGE animals. We floated around for about a half an hour and then said goodbye and headed back toward our cove.

See you later, awesome humpback whales!! (Nice view of the new solar panels, as I make sure we aren't missing any more whaleage behind us.)

Inside Active Cove, about to grab a mooring buoy (there are two, and they were both empty so we have the island to ourselves for the night):

Patos Island has a lot in common with Sucia and Matia islands: very cool sculpted sandstone landscape, and clear clear water:

We deployed the dinghy and took it to shore, registered for the night (this is a WA State Park) and did a little exploring, including a hike out to the lighthouse.

Looking back as we head toward shore:

One of the gorgeous campsites here (all with picnic tables and fire pits, as well as a fair amount of goose poop, but whatever…look at that view, don't look at goose poop!)

Paved sidewalk path from where the dock used to be out to the lighthouse:

There are a LOT of birds out here on this point.

We hiked back to the dinghy on the beach (with one more shot of Airship at its buoy…white speck in the distance is the dinghy on the beach):

Getting close to sunset:

Can you believe this place?

Different view of the boat from the shore (sorry, it hasn't gotten old yet):

Before heading back to the boat we did a little twirl in the dinghy out to the lighthouse (through a bunch more birds):

Lighthouse at golden hour:

Back at the boat, having a little rum and lime on the top deck as the sun goes down:

So far, this is our favorite spot in the San Juans.

Here's our track from today. The loop on the left (at the top/end of the track) is the humpback-watching loop, and the pale yellow-filled one on the right is Patos Island:

Oh, and guess what? We have internet here (on the new Moovbox Wi-Fi router, which Kevin will be reviewing here soon).