Wanted to share some recent pictures of the humpback whales returning to AK. A sure sign that spring has arrived! Hope you enjoy them.

BEAUTIFUL!!! I love the whales!!!
I used to work on a dinner cruise ship in Hawaii. Once in a while I would work the lunch cruise and get to see the whales. They are SO awesome!! Had a couple of them one day just swimming under and around the ship. Had to shut the engines down for about an hour until they were done "playing" and left. Somewhere I have some pictures of them. One layed on it's side and swam right next to the boat. Was too cool!!

They are so majestic. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for sharing the pictures. On my list of things to do, take a cruise and see the whales!


Ninnie

We start the cruise ship season this month. Gets pretty crazy here on certain days of the week. My folks and sister have taken the cruise through the Inside Passage and really enjoyed themselves. You'll have to look me up if you come.

Been there and done that with shutting down the engines and drifting.

Totally agree. My daughters call them the gentle giants.

Oh WOW! That is sew great! It is on my bucket list to one day see the great whales, somehow! :lol: :lol:

Very cool! It must be really something to see them in person!

Thank you!! I love those photos!! Does it feel like they're coming home?

Beautiful pictures, thank you for sharing :D :D :D We enjoy going to the coast and watching their migration, they are amazing creatures :D

You get your west coast humpbacks about 6 weeks before the east cost humps arrive in out Newfoundland waters.

We have icebergs right now and the birds are starting to return to the islands. (They spend the winter at sea bobbing on the ocean).
We LOVE the whales.

You are so lucky to view such a beautiful sight. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful :!: :!: Thanks for the pictures. I too want to do the passage cruise one day. :D

PQ
Rebecca

Awesome! So beautiful!

I would love to see whales, I enjoy the pictures thank you :D

Wow -- beautiful pictures!! (But it still looks really cold there!)

The tourists would get mad if the cruise took longer than expected because of shutting the engines down. They would ask if there was something we could do to get the whales to leave. I would usually respond with....Oh, we would pick the most obnoxious customer and toss them in. lol
Yea, I know, mean, huh?
There was always a briefing that went on about the whales. Do's and Don'ts as to what we could do and couldn't do and it was always told that if the whale approached, we HAD to shut the engines down. Some people just don't listen.......

WOW!
What great pictures! I too am a whale lover. Would love to take a whale watching trip. WE could do a swap, I have a place on the Kenai and in Anchorage if you get this way. He He!

You are sooo incredibly lucky to live in a place where you can see such beautiful things...like right outside your door!!! Thanks for showing them...DH & I will take the Inside Passage cruise on day! :lol:

ahhhh...thanks! They should be headed our way in a couple of months.

judee

They are AWESOME!!! Thank you for sharing them :)

Angie

Bearpaw, I'm still in awe of the whales and how graceful they are for their size. Never tire of watching them.

Yes! Every spring when you see the first spouts you just want to watch them for as long as you can(to heck with work). It's such a great feeling. I've been able to watch them since 1982. I also know when they leave in November that winter is around the corner. So for now we all just sit back and watch the show :-)

The Whales are beautiful! I love them! They are such a gracious animal and are spectactular amazing!! Lol. :D :D

Thank you so muchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Beautiful. What great pics. We look for robins, you look for whales. :D :D

I looked for robins too when I was growing up in SW Minnesota :-) Now I look for eagles......They also return in the spring when the herring spawn. :wink:

YOU ARE HILARIOUS TERRI :lol: :lol:

Thank you sooooo much for sharing these photos. So awe-inspiring. I took my first whale-watch cruise 2 years and it moved me so deeply and changed my life. sounds corny, but it's true. Something really wonderful about whales. I thank God for them.

They're beautiful. Thanks for sharing with us!!!

We are in the high 50's now and the only snow is on the mountain tops. Having really nice weather lately :wink:

So glad your all enjoying the whales :-) :-) :-)

Wow -- 50's isn't bad at all!! And snow is pretty to look at -- on the mountain tops :wink: :wink:

Spring is here also.. want to know how I know??? You have whales breaching in the ocean/bay... When it rains buckets here, there are earthworms breaching all over the driveway!!

Thank you. I sailed the inside passage back in 93 and took many pictures, especially of the humpbacks plus all the wild life, long list, I could find. I didn't tell my husband how much it cost to develope the pictures. VBG I filled three very large photo albums.
The best experience I've every had. We decided that if we went to Alaska when we were young we would have stayed. I love the cold weather and lots of snow. All I can say it baffles my mind how some people can say there is no God after they see Alaska.
Everyone should have the chance to visit Alaska.

Beautiful pictures! What majestic creatures. I once swam with a wild dolphin in Dingle on the west coast of Ireland here's a link to a video of him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK-LeeGslMA

- I would love to swim with humpbacks!

K x

OMG. Love the whales. We use to see some when we lived in Seattle.

We have a 10 day cruise to Alaska May 24 out of San Francisco. Hope we will see whales on our way up. The first two days are at sea.

when was in provincetown, we went on a whale-watching cruise and saw a pod of about thirty females amd their calves, all playing in the water, jumping in and out., and slapping their tails. it was so awe inspiring it made me cry. and in mexico, i actually swam with dolphins and they gave me a push-ride with their noses.

two memories that will stay with me forever. thanks for bringing them back so vividly.

KNEW you were an ol' softy deep down, BW! When I swam with the dolphin, I could hardly see, my mask kept fogging up with the tears. It was so awe inspiring that such a wonderful creature chose to spend time with ME! At one point, I was looking right in his eye and saw more intelligence, compassion and humour than you see in a lot of people.

K x

In '07 we went on a cruise in Baja and got to pet baby gray whales. One of the greatest experiences of my life. Thanks for your wonderful pictures!