Piper | Sunday, August 11, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 PM
On this lovely Sunday afternoon, Captain Erick, naturalist Erin, and myself headed out into the Salish Sea with an awesome group of guests to see what sorts of critters were hanging out in the area. We left the docks of Friday Harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel.
There was a report of a lone Bigg’s killer whale that had first been spotted to the east, between Blakely and Decatur Islands but had booked it northwest and was now headed into Canadian waters near Sidney on Vancouver Island. So we hooked around San Juan through Spieden Channel and got to see two bald eagles flying around the hillsides of Spieden Island.
Continuing into Canada, we arrived on scene with T65A2 (Ooxjaa), the 15-year-old son of T65A (Artemis), who was swimming near Sidney. We watched as this teenager searched the shores of Piers Island for a yummy seal-y snack before crossing Satellite Channel.
It was so impressive to see his tall, sprouting dorsal fin and massive misty exhalations as he moved about the waters. What a sight!
After a while we turned back for Friday Harbor and as we passed through Spieden Channel we once again were treated with some wildlife, Mouflon sheep dotted the grassy southern face of the island, brought here long ago by some entrepreneurial brothers. Shortly later we were back in Friday Harbor with some awesome life-long memories!