Jordan | August 14, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 trip
Today was another hazy day which made the surrounding islands seem almost dream-like! As Captain Pete, Alexandria and I set out of Friday Harbor, we headed south down through the San Juan Channel, past Cattle Point and west towards the Canadian islands. As we reached Beaumont Shoal off the coast of Discovery Island, we found our whales!
Here we found a small pod of transient (Bigg’s) whales! The T2Cs were moving incredibly slowly at less than 2 knots! All the whales were swimming really close together, basically touching pectoral fins as they leisurely scanned their surroundings for food. It was really great to see these whales in their natural habitat!
One of the reasons why they may have been moving so slowly was due to T2C2. This whale, also known as Tumbo, has scoliosis! This condition makes swimming more difficult for him and we normally find him trailing far behind his family.
Eventually we headed back towards Friday Harbor, but along the way, we stopped by Whale Rocks and checked out some huge Steller sea lions! These huge animals lumbered across the tiny island which was really cool to see up close. We also saw one little lone harbor seal that served as a great size comparison right next to the sea lions!
What a great day out on the water.