Field Notes 2012
Kodiak Island, Alaska, United States

Thanks to Pam Foremen and WhaleFest Kodiak for the sighting reports!

Whale Fest Kodiak 2012 runs April 20-30. This is the festival's 16th year. It is not only anticipated by locals, but also attracts tourists who travel to Kodiak to take part in the festivities. Whale Fest events include scientific lectures, marine mammal-inspired music, traditional Native Alaskan games, and environmental forums.

May 1, 2012: Four Orcas cruised through the channel Monday evening at around 9:30pm. Lots of gray whales were seen during Sunday's Whale Watching Walk at Narrow Cape - some were breaching and some waved their flukes at the watchers nearby. Today there is a report of gray whales at Pasagshak.

April 22, 2012: EARTH DAY 2012: Today there were reports of gray whales from Pasagshak Point to Surfer Beach (Bear Paw Beach) and Fossil Beach (Narrow Cape). While many of the whales were off shore quite a bit, several were seen in the surf zone closer to shore. There have been multiple sightings of gray whales in the Narrow Cape area over the last several days.

Enjoy this video shot on Saturday afternoon, APRIL 21!

April 19, 2012: Narrow Cape and Surfer Beach have been the hot spots for gray whale activity of late.  Gray whales were spotted in the surf and further off shore.  Later in the day more grays were seen from Narrow Cape and yesterday 20 grays were seen off Narrow Cape. One lucky whale watcher saw a gray whale breaching....how cool is that? 

April 8, 2012: Early this morning there were 10+ gray whales cruising through the Ugak Strait off Narrow Cape.  Another 15 were spotted from Surfer Beach a little later in the morning. It was during an extremely low tide and the whales were quite a distance from the shore, but viewing was great! We spotted a few backs and even a flipper or two. 

April 3, 2012: We have report of gray whales playing in the surf at Surfer Beach and many more further off shore. The observers said there were also grays moving through Ugak Strait again, but not as many there were yesterday.

April 2, 2012: They're back! There were 15-20 gray whales spotted from the cliffs of Narrow Cape on Monday, April 2nd. "One group of 8 grays were circled up with lots of splashing, heads up, flippers and flukes...."