This past week I got to travel out to Aialik Bay with 2 others from the Ocean Alaska Science and Learning Center- My boss Jim who is the education coordinator and Erin, our Scientific communicator. We were rendezvousing (a word used a lot here) with a group of researchers collecting data for the Near Shore Inventory and Monitoring Project. A group of researchers go out every year to a variety of locations and near shore systems to collect data on what’s going on there over the year, and essentially creating a monitoring program about what’s happening along the Nearshore. Along the way, the most amazing experiences were had- and the first time that I realized that I am actually 100% living my dream. Doing what I think I was put on this earth to do, and I couldn’t love it more.
We departed from Seward at 6 am Thursday morning in a Naiad called the “Auklet” (a native bird here).
As we jetted across the bay for the longest trip I have ever had on the ocean, unbelievable things happened. Really- I’m still not sure if they really happened or not. We spotted a Humpback Whale, jumping in the distance right on our path. We slowed as we approached to let the whale cross in front of us. As another appeared, they both continued jumping around us. You never know where they’re coming from. The water calm one moment, a whale shooting up out of the water in the other. I actually struggled with getting the whales in focus through the lens- a combination of how close the whales were, how fast they appeared and disappeared, and the lens I was using (70-200 f2.8 with 1.4X extender). I’ll never forget scanning the water for the next jump, peering off the back of the boat where they were last spotted, and hearing Erin (who was driving) yell “Wahhhh!” as the whale Breeched right in the direction of the boat.
When it felt like the whales were too close, we decided to continue on, only to come upon the largest animal I’ve ever been tin eh presence of. I believe it was a fin whale, and this is the moment that I gained the utmost respect for the ocean. I’m used to worrying about… maybe a sharp zebra mussel in the lakes of Michigan. But here, you never know what’s under that water. What ginormous life will allow you to glimpse into their life next by surfacing out of their vast home.
Alas, it’s the end of my lunch break, therefore the end of my internet use. I’ll post more in the next days – this is only the first half of day one, and the trip was 4 days!
Kaiti Grant 