Lots of active whales this last trip!  Humpbacks completely out of the water, spinning, to small orca calves breaching in front of us.  Ate lunch in front of 4 actively feeding humpbacks, and a pod of sea lions playing with the whales.

Busy, busy- each trip has its special moments.  The silver salmon have flooded into Resurrection Bay.  Found a sleeping humpback whale that we thought was a log, and ran into another pod of Orcas with calves.  Ran across a full grown humpback leaping into the air, its flukes straight into the sky, before crashing down.  Northwestern fjord was jammed with seals laying on the ice flows.  The sea lions are so playful, coming right up to the kayaks--a bit intimidating at times!  The glaciers are in full calving mode--the thunderous crashes echo in the fjord.  Magical place.

Busy season right now.  Had two great families from the east coast on board in the last 10 days.  The silver salmon are in, and grilled fresh on board.  The whales are still active, although not in close to shore.  Lots of glacier calving--huge blocks making thunderous crashes into the fjord.  Really impressive. 

Had an estimated 100 orcas in Resurrection Bay this past trip.  The experts think they were an oceanic transient group that come in feeding on the salmon sharks.  They flooded in, and then quickly left.  The humpbacks have cleared out of the coves in Aialik and seem to be in the bigger reaches of water, lazily feeding.  Still lots of them. The silver salmon are showing up in Pony Cove on the outer reaches of Resurrection Bay also.  Had a great time this last trip with Kay, Rob and Steve.

Another fantastic trip to Aialik this past weekend.  Ate my first tempura batter fiddle head and devil's club shoots. The whales are still amazingly active.  The juvenile sea lions are so fun to watch- very curious animals, always popping their heads up, checking us out to see what's up.  The bird life is rich, everything feeding on the massive schools of herring.  Caught 6 red salmon last night in a little over 30 minutes. 

Returned from a perfect weekend into Aialik and Northwestern this past weekend.  I've never seen so many whales.  Ran into a pod of orcas the first day, and then humpbacks everywhere.  We had whales all about us all four days- watched bubble feeding, full breeches, and lots of grazing.  Beautiful animals. 

Spent the weekend tuning up the Darby, changing the prop, oil, and general upkeep.  Good, solid boat- all system running well at present.  The Alaskan summer light is here-- it's nine pm and completely light out.  The trees are just starting to show their leaves.  Another week and they'll all be out.  Went to Homer yesterday.  Had a beautiful day on the water there.  The king salmon should be flooding in soon. 

Had a great trip last weekend to Thumbs Cove, about 10 miles south of Seward.  The Swansons  and their friends, a great family from Australia, joined us.  The weather was perfect- a few clouds, almost calm.  We beach combed, built a fire and cooked some brats, and enjoyed good company.  The Darby is running well! The next morning Charlie, my brother from Anch. came down and we had an amazing skate ski on Bear Lake.  Sunny, almost hot, and the first bear tracks of the season.  The harbor is coming back to life, Tonsina and Mt. Marathon Jeep trail is passable.  Spring in Alaska!  We're like the bears, awaking from a dark winter, slumbering about looking for adventure!