Jordan | July 19, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 trip
Our afternoon trip may have started with a bit of delay but the amazing whales that we saw were well worth the wait! As 2:00 rolled around, the sun came out and the skies cleared and it became a truly beautiful and warm Washington afternoon. Captain Mike and I received several reports of whales around the San Juan islands so we were excited to take our Kestrel vessel and explore the area.
First, we headed down the San Juan Channel and watched some harbor seals off of Dead Man Island! There were so many of them! And they were so cute snuggling with their little baby pups! Then we also spotted some really cool oystercatcher birds with bright orange, long beaks and sleek black bodies climbing on the rocks! Then we saw a beautiful bald eagle with a gorgeous glowing white head. As we continued along, we headed toward Long Island where we found an eagles nest which was huge! And if you looked past the shadows, you could see a huge juvenile bald eagle sitting amongst the twigs.
Then we headed further east off of Lopez island and found our whales in McCarther Bank! Here we found transient whales with two huge males with towering dorsal fins! It was crazy to watch those six-foot-tall structures wobbling in the wind! I still find it hard to believe that dorsal fins are made of entirely cartilage with absolutely no bones to support it! At a few points during our whale watching, the whales passed really close to our boat! I hope my guests got some great pictures!
Then we headed west towards the Salmon Bank to find some more wildlife and spotted some great seabird action with a few baitballs. But when we starting craving more whale watching, we booked it up the west side of San Juan Island and found our Southern Resident whales! It was so great to see these whales! They were super spread out and traveling south so we spent a lot of time floating in one spot, watching whales pass by, one by one.
Eventually we headed home with hearts full of happy whale love.