Salmon, Porpoises, Humpback Whales

Keeping the bullet points thing going…

1) On Sunday we ate the fish we caught a la Mark Zuckerberg. In the morning we went trolling for salmon by casting our lines 30-60 feet deep. In the afternoon we went for halibut using mackerel bait 120 feet deep. We caught no halibut but ended up catching 6 Coho Salmon and had the sashimi as an appetizer and the cooked salmon for dinner.

Gone Fishin

Coho Salmon

Sashimi

Salmon Filet

2) On Saturday morning our guides cast a line and caught a halibut while waiting to hop on board the boat. In New York City, you play Angry Birds while waiting for the 6 train.

3) On Monday we took a Zodiac into Prince William Sound in pursuit of swimming with humpback whales. Our guide, Ian, is a National Geographic photographer and filmed oceanic segments of Planet Earth — a skillset perfect for our mission. The day was like nothing I’ve ever experienced–sparkling blue skies and calm waters, whales popping up and breaching all over the place, our group jumping in the water (36 degrees) in wet suits, using a motorized torpedo to get us close to the whales. At times we got to within 10 feet–or even closer. The rush was literally indescribable. We spent 6 hours on the water and swam with dozens of whales.

On the way, we saw some dolphins playing alongside our boat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DafPcNeZJjw

Me & The Rivers

Sea lion spotting on the way

Unit deployed

Mother and calf

We also have some underwater footage which I’ll try to upload tomorrow.

4) Sunday night we anchored in a picturesque bay, appropriately called Snug Harbor. Not a human within 50 miles from us. At 11PM we decided to take the kayaks and a Zodiac out to drift through the bay — the silence was at times deafening. We stayed out until 1AM.

Snug Harbor the next morning