Davis' Get very close to this Humpback Whale

Hi friends,

The past couple of weeks we have been working hard on watching and researching the patterns of the various whales that migrate through Kodiak. Did you know that Aloha means Hello and Good Bye in Hawaiian? Well I think we just said goodby to the last of the whales here in Kodiak.

There are a variety of whales that hang out here such as the Fin, Minke, Humpback and Sei. We only see Greay Whales come through in April when they are on their way from Mexico to the Bering and Chukchi Sea. On their Migration Back to Mexico in October, they head straight from the Bering and Chukchi Sea without stopping until they arrive in Baja Mexico in December and January. They make about a 5-7,000 mile migration. This information I got from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/marine/grey.php

In April you can see whales around the various parks and coastlines of the Island right from the city of Kodiak.

What we have been seeing in October and November here on the North West side of Kodiak near Whale Pass,Whale Island, Marmot, Kizhuyak, and Shartin Bay have been mostly Humpback, and Fin Whales. The Humpbacks have an estimated population of 7,000 whales, with a migration of 3,000 miles from Hawaii to Alaska. Limited data records their travels amungst the South side of the Alaska Penensula to the Eastern Alutions. A substantial number of reports have concluded that many Humpback Whales have been sighted between the Kenai Penensula and Afognak Island with many sightings of pods in Marmot bay and North East Afognak Island. These reports came from the Kodiak Visitors website http://www.Kodiak.org/things-to-do/wildlife-viewing/whale-watching.html.

We are excited to share our experiences with you, as we live in the Wilds of Alaska and not many people have been out here on a day to day basis to see and report these particular Whale activities. Our first big sightings were in October. Around the 6th of October while we were sport fishing we spotted lots of whales from Kizhuyak Bay to Marmot Bay. We estimate around 60 whales. The first week in November we spotted many spouts and went out to Whale Island and the North Cape of Spruce Island. On this particular day we estimated to see 60-80 whales, we could see their spouts for miles.

The Fin Whale is an interesting whale that has an estimated population of 15,000. Some spend the summer feeding in portions of the lower Cook inlet, Shelikof Straight, outer banks of Kodiak Island and been spotted out on the Alaska Penensula. The interesting thing about these wahlse is that they usually migrate in September and November, but have been reported to stay in Kodiak all winter. So these whales do migrate, but some pods stay behind and live in the waters of Kodiak. The website I looked at for this information did not mention where the Fin Whale migrate to. http://www.Kodiak.org/things-to-do/wildlife-viewing/whale-watching.html

Killer Whale

It was very exciting for us to see a pod Killer Whales the first week of November. These Whales are known for their ferociousness and it has been reported that they attack other whales and Humpback Whales have been found with scars from Killer Whale attacks and eye witnesses to attacks by Killer Whales. In fact we went out to view the Killer Whales and they came up to our skiff, we did not attempt to chase them down. Since around November 8th we have not seen any more sightings of whale spouts or Killer Whales. We believe this was their last Hurrah before heading off to warmer climates! Aloha to the Humpback! Now the Hawaiians get to enjoy them for the season. They are taking off to visit Wayde of Wayde’s World Hawaii!

Check out this clip of the Davis and their close encounter with the Killer Whale On our You Tube channel AlaskaWildAdventures, jdlostcoast1, or our weekly video updates on our website.

Take Care from the Wilds of Alaska… Jill Davis

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