The waters of Kachemak Bay are home to an abundance
of marine life, and one of the best ways to see it all is aboard a boat.
Rainbow Tours, out of Homer, departs daily at 9am and returns at 6pm for a
full day of cruising Kachemak Bay and Kennedy Entrance (which is the entrance
to Cook Inlet). This cruise includes a shuttle to the City of Seldovia, then
6.5 hours of whale watching from Seldovia to Kennedy Entrance.
Rain was coming down pretty steady as we boarded the
Rainbow Connection for our tour, but we couldn’t wait to get out on the water.
The possibility of sighting Humpback Whales, Sea Otters, Porpoise, Puffins,
and Killer Whales was extremely alluring. We were especially excited to see
Humpbacks and Orcas, and the naturalist on board, Ginger, informed us there
was a good chance of that coming true. On this trip Orcas would elude us, but
the Humpbacks came to visit in a big way. While cruising out through the bay
we spotted a group of whales, they were feeding along the surface of the
water. Captain Jack steered the boat over in their direction and then the show
began! Humpbacks are known for their surface behavior, including full body
breaches, pectoral fin slapping, and deep diving that leads to a tail fluke,
spy hopping, and tail lobbing. These fascinating behaviors make for excellent
whale watching, and with twenty to twenty-five whales now surrounding the boat
our chances were good that we would witness a few of these activities. Sure
enough, the whales were in an excited mood, the abundance of fish made them
extremely happy. They were grouping together feeding on the fish and exhaling
with such force you could hear the air being forced from their bodies. They
were also being very vocal; a strange vibration type noise could be heard as
they swam near the boat. There was so much activity going on that it was hard
to know where to point the camera, there was just tail fluke after tail fluke!
The rain was also making photography quite a challenge. Drops of rain would
coat the lens of my camera so often that it required a wipe down about every 5
minutes. But luck was with us despite the weather, for we were able to capture
a full body breach on film! Talk about being in the right place at the right
time! The breach happened so fast that I wasn’t sure that I captured the
image, but Pick, thanks to digital photography, was able to immediately know
that she got the shot! As luck has it, we both caught the breach on film; in
fact Dar even documented the whole thing on video. It was without a doubt the
highlight of the trip.
Even though the breach stole the show, there were
several other stars on the tour. Sea otters playfully floated on the surface
of the water, one was even holding her baby on her chest, and puffins were
also out in force. The trip we had that day was unbelievable, everyone
associated with Rainbow Tours is exceptional. The guides are knowledgeable and
enthusiastic about sharing their love of these animals. Captain Jack was a
great guide as well, he always made sure the boat was in just the right place,
and he also has a great sense of humor. We highly recommend their tour. We had a great time and would not hesitate to go out with them again.
Back in Homer, we headed for Boardwalk Fish and
Chips, a great little restaurant where you can get their famous “fish on a
stick”. Resembling a skewer, these chunks of halibut practically melt in your
mouth.
We ended our day with a beautiful auto tour along
Skyline Drive. This scenic drive takes you high above the city of Homer where
you can see across the bay to the Kenai Mountains and the massive Grewingk
Glacier.
