Friday, July 26, 2013

Amazing two days!!

The past two days (7/25 & 7/26) have been RIDICULOUS. Weather has been fairly warm and sunny, but the wildlife has been AWESOME. Yesterday, I saw my first dead whale. Don't know why I'm excited about that, but I am...we were watching some humpbacks and some passengers called me over to check something out that they saw in the distance. I thought it was a rock at first, but a passenger worked at a landfill and said "I know what dead things smell like, and that's a dead whale." I looked through the binoculars and sure enough, it was a bloated & decaying humpback. Check it out. 
Later on in the day, we came across 3 humpbacks that came THISCLOSE to the boat- I swear, if we jumped off the boat we could've landed on them.  They were doing pec slapping, tail lobbing, and deep diving- two of them were synchronized a lot of the time too!! All I kept saying was, "holy shit!" 
Look at the piece missing on the right pectoral. 

A dorsal fin, pectoral fin, and a tail fluke. SO MANY ANIMALS! 

Synchronized diving. 

Notch in the tail fluke of this one. 

Tufted puffin. 


After the awesome show of humpbacks, we saw some orcas at the end of the day.  I haven't seen them in a long time and they came close to the boat too!! 


So, Thursday 7/25 was an awesome day. Passengers loved me (of course!), we made good tips, and the humpbacks were freaking awesome!! I didn't think today could beat yesterday, but it did! The passengers were pretty chill and we had an AMAZING humpback show in the Chiswells. We were in the middle of 7-10 humpbacks that were circling the boat. I am out of adjectives to describe it. 





After we were surrounded by lots o whales, we had to get going towards Seward, but only traveled about 1/4 mile before we saw a mom & calf frolicking. 
Here's the calf doing a head lob.  YOU CAN SEE IT'S EYEBALL!!!!

Mom slapping her tail. 

Baby again. 

Overall, these past two days were FREAKING AWESOME. These are the days that make me love this job! 










 



















34 comments:

  1. Pretty amaZing T! Hope one day to see all of it person myself!

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  2. Good afternoon this is Yazmin Andujar from your second period. The job you are looks very exciting and dangerous at the same :) the whale that was dead what ends up happening to it ? Do they take it out or leave it there? Well I hope to see you soon. Very excited to be in your class can't wait to meet you for this new year that is coming :)

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    1. Stephanie Fado Period 7 In relevance to "So you want to be a Deckhand..." Other than the breathing down your neck experience, what was the strangest passenger interaction you have had during your time on the ship?

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  3. Hey, Ms Orilio you convinced me to take your class Marine I and it seems as if I have it 2nd period this year. Your blog is very unique and that's pretty cool. The reason i took this class is because you make the class entertaining and unique and enjoyable for everyone involved. I hope Alaska was as fun as it seemed to have been from your posts, and look forward to learning about water for the first quarter or so this year. By the way those pictures are amazing!

    -Alex Dieter P2

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  4. That's pretty awesome! I went on a humpback whale-watching tour two years ago in Australia; we didn't see many whales near the boat BUT there was one young whale that followed our boat for the majority of the time. It was pretty amazing and I was able to get some get pictures of him out of the water.
    - Nicole Oliva Pd. 6

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  5. Those are amazing pictures! Out of everything you did in Alaska what was your favorite? Period 7

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  6. Hey, Ms Orilio, those pictures are awesome and my favorite part of the blog is when you explained about why the glacier is blue. i think that its incredible that the light waves that travel through the glacier is what makes the color blue. That is some good stuff to know about entering the marine class. I really liked the blog it has all of this cool stuff to read about.
    Thanks John McKenna P-3

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  7. Great pictures! How did you get so many shots of such unique animals? And so close up?
    Morgan Pszyk period 1

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  8. Wow, the pictures of the blue glaciers are phenomenal! I never knew they could become such a pretty color. Where does that black residue on the surface of some of them come from?
    Taylor Lambertus Period 7

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  9. These pictures are amazing! I went on a whale watching tour in Juno but wasn't able to get any pictures like these! Is it normal for there to be this much whale activity in a few days? I saw a humpbacks and orcas on my tour and it was amazing!
    Shelby Taubenkimel Period 6

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  10. The pictures of the whales are amazing! What a great opportunity to get to see all of this! What has been your favorite day so far?

    Sabrina Sprott Period.4

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  11. Puffins are my favorite bird! All of these pictures are so amazing! Was the taco bell delicious? What was the most interesting and beautiful animal you saw?

    Brooke Wilson Period 6

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  12. I've been to Alaska before! I went on a boat for a whale watch just like you have in these pictures! It's perfect there! I miss it.

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  13. Looks like a lot of fun. What is your favorite part about Alaska?
    RYan Judson-Period 3

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  14. That is amazing! My mom has been wanting to go to Alaska for so long but my dad thinks it may be dangerous. How is it? The oxygen and living in that environment for so long? Have you gotten used to it or is it a struggle?

    Seena Musallam- Period 2.

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  15. Looks so pretty! How different is the sand on the beaches in Alaska compared to the sand on the beaches in Florida?
    Victoria Agostinelli- Period 6.

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  16. The pictures are amazing! Looks like you are having an amazing time! What has been your favorite animal that you have seen so far?
    Haley Fisher period 3

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  17. WOW! Alaska looks amazing, and the pictures are just as cool. I cannot wait to hear about your trip. What was your favorite part about being in Alaska?
    Lyric Harris-Period 6

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  18. All of these pictures are incredible! What was the most interesting part of your journey? What new things did you learn from your experience?
    Samiul Huq period 6

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  19. These pictures look amazing! How different is the sand on the beaches in Alaska compared to here?

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  20. Franklin Mathew - Period 1
    Great pictures. Seems like you are on an adventure.

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  22. Amazing pictures! How many glaciers in Alaska have floating termini (or terminuses and which is it)?

    Samantha Shafran Period 1

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  23. Looks like fun! Whats your favorite place in Alaska?
    Shani Nir- Period 3

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  24. Great photos.Looks like a great experience to be there!

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  25. Your picture are unbelievable! how many differnt kinds of whales have you been able to see?
    Tyler Gaffney period 3

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  26. The whales and puffins are amazing! How did it feel being so close to the whales?
    Christie Harpest-Period 3

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  28. Your trip to Alaska looks like so much fun! Have you learned anything about the Alaskan animals or wildlife that you didn't learn before you went on this trip?
    Tashay Campbell Period 7

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  29. Alaska looks like a wonderful place, it must have been an amazing experience to be there! Everything looks so beautiful and breathtaking. What was your least and most favorite part of the trip? I can't wait to meet you on Thursday!
    -Gabriela Rama
    Period 3

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  30. Alaska looks like an amazing place to vacation. Whales are such breathtaking creatures. How long does the mother and the calf stay together till the calf is on its own? See you thursday! :)
    -Sasha Xu Period 3

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  31. The wild life looks sick out there i`ve never seen a whale in person i bet its pretty awesome!
    - Nick I. Dagraca
    Per.2

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  32. Wow, looks like you've had the trip of a lifetime! I hope you had a blast. Can't wait to hear your stories when you get back.

    - Ryan Lai Period 6

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  33. All your pictures look amazing! What happened to the whale that has parts of its fin missing? Is it harder for that whale to swim?

    Sarah Araujo period 6

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