In the presence of giants

摘要

To see humpback whales 'bubblenetting' as they herd their prey upwards before erupting from the water is an unforgettable experience. But to be among the whales, sitting above them in a kayak, is something else... My jaws are stained scarlet as I bolt down pancakes soaked in freshly picked huckleberries. I am consuming a huge breakfast on the beach, fuelling up so that I can keep up with the ensuing day's action. But my prodigious appetite is about to be overshadowed by some fellow diners cruisingtowards me. The first volley of steaming breath ruptures the stillness of the morning air. The 'big eaters' have arrived - a pod of humpback whales. The whales have come to spend another day foraging, to give them the energy to migrate in early autumn totheir winter breeding waters in Hawaii. I must keep up with them in my kayak for as much as 50km a day as they search for prey throughout the sounds, straits and inlets that divide South-east Alaska into a vast archipelago of hundreds of islands. I flick another pancake onto my plate as I watch our of the corner of my eye the whales diving. There is no time to lose - I have spent much of the past 20 years observing and photographing these magnificent animals, and my hunger is still undiminished.