Icy Strait is a privately owned town near Hoonah, Alaska. It is owned by the Huna Totem Corporation, a group of approximately 1,350 Alaskan Natives with aboriginal ties to Hoonah and the Glacier Bay area.
With only one cruise shop allowed to tender at one time, the town feels relatively quiet and untouched. We tendered into port first thing to meet Colleen - a Canadian who had moved to Alaska - and her team, to go out on the water in search of whales.
Met at the dock by Dwayne, our "whale whisperer", we drove a quick mile into town to board our boat, Three Wolves, and head out to sea.
A short 20-minute ride and we arrived in "whale territory", spotting a whale almost immediately. We watched it intensely for about 20 minutes as it glided along through the water. Eager to find a larger or more active group, we climbed back inside the main part of the boat, closed the interior windows and started the engine to head off on our search.
As if he heard the engine and was summoning us to stick around, however, the whale, pulled his head and body out of the water and crashed back into the water. It was feeding time!
Naturally, we turned off the engine and watched him obsessively as he sporadically hauled his top half vertically out of the water to help digest the fish he was eating. At one point, he even did the famous lift and twist move to help remove the plankton from his body. The water exploded as he crashed back in.
We saw many whales during our excursion, either swimming along or flapping their tails, but watching this one whale feed and clean itself was a true highlight.
It is still incredible to think that wolves evolved into whales over the short period of 40,000 years (thanks, Steve, for the "amusing" facts!) but it kind of makes sense when you see them pop up for air regularly and sleep like logs on the surface so they don't drown. Without question though, watching them in action was truly incredible to us.
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