Dall's Porpoise swimming in front of a boat Resurrection Bay near Seward Alaska

We encountered quite a bit of wildlife in 2023, starting with the whitetail deer that tried to cross the road and punched a hole in my boat trailer fender. Most of them entered our lives on more agreeable terms, however. Alaska was as expected a high point on the nature scale – we saw no fewer than 30 bears, plus sea lions, otters, mink, beavers, a roadside moose, puffins and a bunch of bald eagles. We were thrilled by them, but had seen other members of those same species before. The one new one that we added to our life list was the Dall’s Porpoise.

It was a totally unexpected interaction. On our way back from a day of halibut fishing, we stopped at a rocky outcropping to quickly fill out our limits of rockfish, and then took off for the docks in Seward. Suddenly Captain Chuck Pezzillo killed the outboards and we got to watch for more than 10 minutes as a group of these porpoises – which look like “mini orcas” – put on a show around the boat. They dove and jumped and made nearly impossible turns, well aware that we were watching. The captain said he’d seen them before, but never that active. Even if he was telling a little fib to make us feel special, it worked. Beyond the fishing itself, it was a highlight of the day…indeed, one of the highlights of the trip as a whole. Check them out in the short video, below:

A Few Facts About Dall’s Porpoises

Only found in the North Pacific and adjacent seas
Named for American naturalist William Healey Dall, who worked extensively in Alaska during the late 1800s, when it was still Russian territory (Dall Sheep are also named for him)
Prefer temperatures between 36 degrees Fahrenheit and 63 degrees Fahrenheit
Can swim up to 34 miles per hour for short distances
Up to 440 pounds and 7-8 feet in length