12 July 2008, Inside Passage.

After a nice morning sailing past Alert Bay and later disembarking the Canadian Pilots, the weather turned grey and drizzly. Whales were out in abundance and some came close enough to the ship to be clearly seen by the guests onboard. Since coming Alaska, my first year was 1982, I have seen a great increase in wildlife. In the beginning we made an announcement when we saw a Bald Eagle, now there are so many that we should make an announcement when we DON’T see one. It is the same with the Whales. In 1982 we had to search for them, now they are everywhere and we now have an active policy not to come too close.

This might sound a big strange, as we are a cruise ship and part of the whole operation is to show the guests what Alaska nature is all about. On the other hand we are visitors, guests, to Alaska and we should not disturb the wildlife. Thus Holland America has a policy, a doctrine, to respect the whales and stay at a safe distance so we do not disturb them in their natural habitat. All bridge personnel, deck officers and quartermasters go through a company training program to learn about whales. This to learn to recognize the various species, to become familiar with their appearance and with their ways of traveling and feeding. This training program, which is computer based and taken onboard via the company’s intranet system, is in line with the latest scientific insights in whale behavior. Based on that, the company has developed techniques to minimize the chance of their ships colliding with a whale.

Different sort of whales require different ways of dealing with. When we sail on the East Coast (Boston and Florida area) the ships pass through the territories of the Right or Northern Whale. These are whales which are mostly totally oblivious of their surroundings as far as their outside world is concerned. They were very easy to hunt and as a result there are only about 300 or so left. As they do not react very much to ships passing by, there is a greater chance of hitting one and that is of course to be avoided at all times. Thus when we spot a Right whale we carefully look which way the whale is going and then increase the distance by going the other way. If not possible, we slow down or even stop the ship and wait until the whale has moved on. Simply because we do not know, can not predict, what a Right whale is going to do next. Also, when in the Boston area a Right whale is spotted, its location is passed on to a monitoring station which then advises other ships in the area. These whales are nearly extinct and everything humanly possible has to be done to save them.

With Humpback whales it is different. When they move they tend to keep going in the same direction. Also they react quite well to the surrounding area, in our case the sounds of the ships propellers. When we see them a little course change is most often sufficient to avoid them. When close to whales we run with a ships speed of 13 knots or less and that is also helpful as it gives the whales a chance to react. Thus if a course change is not sufficient we come down in speed and watch the whale intently. The moment we see it’s back curving and the mighty tail coming up, we know it is going for a dive and we can continue on our way.

For guests who are sitting close to a window during our periods at sea could observe a very zig zag wake of the ship while we sail through Queen Charlotte sound, Stephens Passage, Sumner Strait and Icy strait. These are all prime areas were whales congregate. When the ship zig zags here, it is not because we are all drunk on the bridge but because we are keeping a safe distance to the whales. This normally does not affect the whale watching for the guests, as we do not move “miles” out of the way but just enough to keep the whale out of harms way.

One species we do not have to keep away from are the porpoises. They come and seek us out and if the ship is traveling at a speed between 14 and 16 knots, they will ride the bow wave until they get tired of it and move on to the next plaything that comes in view.

Today we had Humpback whales and porpoises in the afternoon and quite a few guests where on the bow taking it all in. Some where watching from the crow’s nest, which is an even better spot, as you can see the world floating by with a drink in your hand. Tomorrow we are in Ketchikan and it is supposed to be a normal day for the town and that means rain.

Newly uploaded: Employee of the Month of July. Ships plumber Mr. Gerry Beltran. (see right hand side of front page)