Gulf side of the Aleutians, seagulls, and whatnot

I find the gulls on the boat to be really fun to watch.  They poop a lot.  They make a lot of noise.  They are almost always there, and you can get really close before they move.  Perfect for when you're a bit bored and have a camera in hand.

Today: Killer whales near the boat again, this time there were 5-6, and a mom with a really young baby, they were still swimming very close together, surfacing in tandem.  But the whales in general didn’t come as close as the ones on day 2.  Cold and calm this morning but clear and bitingly windy now (9 pm).  

Short-tailed albatross and northern fulmar

Saw several short tailed albatross at the same time today.  I took a bazillion pictures.  They seem to mostly swim around and bully the other albatross species and the fulmars and gulls.  They are quite a bit bigger than the rest of the birds out there and it takes them a lot more flapping and running to get back into the air.  

Short-tailed albatross, picking up speed (don't get run over!)

It was another fairly slow day in terms of work duties.  A tanner crab came up on a hook (actually, it was on a fish that was on a hook) and the observer grabbed it and we had some fun with it – make it hold things and took pictures.  Then we returned it to the ocean, unharmed.

Due to funding cuts, the Agency is starting to get creative to meet their science staffing needs.

Tonight we (science peeps and some crew) watched the movie Pacific Rim.  Haha – the beginning is hilarious – they take a lot of liberties with Alaska.  I broke out my bag of doritos to share during the movie, and Dana contributed a big bag of skittles, so it was a regular old party on the boat. 

Today was our first day sampling on the Gulf of Alaska side of the Aleutians.  We’re a bit farther from shore, so it’s not as scenic.  But, you know, still scenic.  I just popped on deck and saw killer whales on both sides of the boat…we’re steaming to the station for tomorrow.