Jordan | August 7, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 trip
Today the sun was out and shining and the water seemed especially calm as we headed out of Friday Harbor in our search to find whales! We headed south down through the San Juan Channel and through Cattle Pass past the southern point of San Juan Island.
We then spotted some Steller sealions on the Whale Rocks! These massive creatures lumbered around this tiny island barking at each other and rolling around, trying to get as much sun as possible. It’s such a pleasant surprise to see this group of sealions that have already returned to our islands! The rest of the sealions are still up in Alaska for their breeding season!
Alongside the sealions was also a large group of harbor seals! It was humorous to see the vast size difference of the two animals side by side as the five-foot seals flopped around clumsily alongside their twelve-foot sealion friends.
We then headed over to Long Island and spotted a bald eagles nest! AND there were two bald eagles in the nest as well! Upon our arrival, one of the adult eagles flew off and took to the skies! What a beautiful display.
Then we headed even further east past large expanses of water and through Deception Pass! We passed under a bridge connecting Fidalgo and Whidbey Island! We waved at people up on the bridge as we zipped past. We passed by beautiful cliffsides until we found a grey whale! Grey whales are not commonly seen within our islands so it was incredibly exciting to see one!
We found him within about 5 feet of water, popping up and down every minute as he dove to the bottom to feed. We watched him spit out mouthfuls of mud as he fed off of amphipods, ghost shrimp, crab larvae and plankton along the sea floor. His huge grey body surfaced pretty close to our boat! So, we could see all the little barnacles living on his body.
Eventually we had to say goodbye to Mr. Whale but we returned home with happy hearts.