Whale soup

The excursion from Sitka started with stepping onto a catamaran at 8:30. It cruised around the sound and the guide pointed out sea otters and a few bald eagles. At one point, he said he had a glimpse of a brown coastal bear on a beach area. TSH saw a dark shape slink into the trees but Diva saw nothing. The best part of the catamaran excursion - the whale soup - came at the end. This is allegedly the technical term for a massive collection of whales all round the boat. The guide said it was very unusual to see so many together, although he was unclear as to exactly how many.12? 20? They were blowing, partly surfacing and then diving, sometimes showing the characteristic forked tail. There was at least one calf in the group. A very special experience, especially since once more the sea was flat calm and the sky was blue.

The next visit was to the Alaska Raptor Centre, which helps injured raptors with the aim of returning them to the wild if possible. There were many bald eagles, a snowy owl and a golden eagle called Oliver. The nearby Bear Fortress performed a similar function for bears - mostly brown bears with a few black ones. One of the brown bears was called  Toby (yes, really). The bears mostly went to zoos - getting them back into the wild is much more difficult.

TSH and Diva returned to Silver Shadow at around 14:15, so the only real option was to eat at the poolside. TSH had his first burger of the cruise.

After sail away, the Silver Shadow cruised through the massive pod of whale soup again.

On the cruise earlier in 2018, the 'top cruisers' had done over 2000 days, so TSH and Diva's 366 days seemed very trivial. Because this cruise is full of 'first timers', they found that this time they were number 2 in the cruise day hierarchy!!   They dined with the Staff Captain, the number 1 cruisers and another couple from England. A good table and another good dinner.