Jordan | July 14, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00
Today was a spectacular day full of so many displays of the beauty of nature. Captain Gabe and I headed south through the San Juan Channel past Cattle Point and dropped by the Whale Rocks to check out some seals! They were super cute flopping around on the rocks.
Then we voyaged into the Salmon Bank. Here we boated around the shallow waters until we found a minke whale! Minke whales are the smallest baleen whale in the world! We like to call them “Stinky Minkes” and they certainly lived up to their name today! As we boated along the whole boat smelled the pungent smell before we actually spotted the whale! His big black rolling back swam really close to our boat and surprised us all as he appeared a mere 15 feet away!
Then we traveled further into the open waters off the south side of San Juan Island. Here we found the Southern Resident whales! They were really spread out and traveling in smaller groups. I like to remind people that even though the whales are really far apart, they are still able to communicate with each other! Orca whales can vocalize up to 10 miles apart!
It was so great to see these amazing killer whales! Watching them was incredible as we witnessed two sequential breaches right next to the whale watching boat right next to us! The whale leaped out of the water so that his entire body flashed at us. I’ve never seen a whale reach such heights! Then we saw even more breaches! As well as tail slaps and one whale that rolled around to show us his belly! At one point, the whales passed really close by our boat!
Eventually we had to return home but it was definitely a brilliant adventure tour today!