Out of the Blue

We headed into the river on the tender, intent on exploration and in search of grizzly bears.

The entrance to the river is through an estuary, flanked with sandbars and channels, where lots of seals sunbathe on the sand bars at low tide, and fish in the channels at high tide.

Nearing high-tide, a guest spotted a mama grizzly and her three cubs, close in the grasslands. While our binoculars were focused on the bears, we suddenly heard a splashing all around us. The water began frothing like crazy around the boat! We had no idea what it was, we thought that maybe we had disturbed some seals with the boat?

We soon spotted the killer whales attacking the seals all around us! They made a kill and started feeding- the action all meters away from the boat; we didn’t even know they were there.

Then out of the blue, one of the younger ones jumped completely out of the water. It was a breathtaking moment, one we were lucky enough to witness! But no one had their cameras at the ready so we missed the shot!

After our thrilling whale encounter, we went back to watching the mom and her three cubs. It started to rain and the bears all cozied up under a tree and went to sleep. So cute!

Back on the Yellowfin, Chef Ben told us he’d been watching the killer whales attacking the seals through his long lens, and captured some incredible photos of the breaching whale. Way to go Ben! This was an awe-inspiring and amazing adventure. What a day!