Photo taken by my dad in Alaska

Reminiscing about Alaska, as my parents just recently returned from 16 days spent there, returning the same day home that I did from British Columbia.

They had a spectacular time spending one week cruising and the rest of the time on land exploring the great wonders and gifts of Alaska’s outdoors.

I got to hear about their adventures, as they were having them and we shared about things we both experienced, as I was just there last August – one of my most cherished and favorite trips ever.

One of the spectacular things my parents were gifted to experience was an extremely rare sighting of 15 Humpback Whales doing what is called a “bubble net lunge feed” (as seen in the photo above that my dad took) where the Whales go under the water and blow bubbles in a circular motion to confuse and surround the fish. This causes them to congregate and forces them towards the surface near the center of this circle.

There is then an explosion of air, as the Whales surface all together at once, in the center of the bubble circle with their mouths open wide to catch their meal. They literally lunge through the congregating fish with gaping mouth, which causes an explosion at the surface of both food and water, as well as different calls from the Whales.

Groups of Humpback Whales feeding together will create an array of calls ranging from short grunts to long, hollow ones.

The Seagulls sense right away it’s happening and congregate above to catch, or steal, any left overs that they can.

What an incredible sighting and experience they had, which my dad caught one photo of. The guide shared that this is so rare to have the opportunity to see, but my parents kept experiencing many of these “rare” sightings, which I was really grateful they had the chance to see and receive.

Synchronously, my dear friend Hillary posted a short video of a man who saw this same sighting the day my parents did, right before I headed to British Columbia. In the video, which was shared by the local news in Alaska, the man was going crazy with ecstatic surprise at seeing the 15 Humpback Whales coming up all at once, surrounded by the Seagulls. It was fun to catch it live, after having just heard about the experience from my parents.

I’m so grateful my parents had the opportunity to immerse in Alaska’s nature. They’ve been so accustomed to trips exploring culture, architecture, art, and history, that this was a really refreshing and grounding journey for them.

They got the chance to see and experience every imaginable creature there was to see while on their journey including Orcas, Dolphins, Whales, Sea Lions, tons of Bald Eagles in the rainforest and other Birds , Bears and Bear cubs, Mountain Goats, Moose…you name it!

Made me excited to return there again soon. I can’t wait!

Alaska continues to call to my heart.