Surrounded by Whales in Stephens Passage, Alaska

“Good evening, Adventurers. We just noticed some whale action on the starboard side of the boat. A humpback calf is breaching and seems to be pretty active.”

Surrounded by Whales in Stephens Passage, Alaska

Our first whale sighting! A young, playful humpback graced us with its presence on the second night of our un-cruise in Alaska.

I don’t know why, but it seems Scott and I have unusually good luck when it comes to whale sightings. The week progressed with a few more humpback sightings here and there, in addition to two transient Orcas who came right next to our boat in Port Houghton.

Surrounded by Humpbacks

But… the real show began on Thursday evening as we cruised through Stephens Passage — en route to Dawes Glacier.

Our Captain and crew said they had never seen anything like it. Just before sunset, we found our boat surrounded by fifty to one hundred humpback whales — either feeding along the surface, tail slapping, breaching or showing off their tails as they prepared for a deep dive.

You couldn’t look in a single direction and not see a whale. They came in close as they slid along the surface with their mouths open — so close you could see their baleen!

It’s moments like these that remind us why we travel.