Kelly | M/V Sea Lion | March 19th, 2022 | 12:30pm
Just as we were puttering out of Friday Harbor, we received one vague whale report. The land-based report stated four killer whales heading south in upright channel, just outside Friday Harbor! It seemed suspiciously convenient…almost too good to be true. Excited, we zoomed over to the mouth of upright channel and scanned the water in the hopes of spotting some black and white dolphins. We scanned and scanned, but no sign of Killer whales. Next, we moved further south down San Juan Channel thinking the group may have headed that direction. As we continued scanning south, the water became more and more aggressive. We changed direction and headed north up to Yellow Island. Yellow island gave us some great looks at Harbor Seals and a gulp of cormorants hanging out side by side.
Next stop was Speiden island! We watched as a few dozen Steller Sea Lions lounged, itched, roared, and swam off the south end of the island. We took our time exploring Flattop Island, White Rock and Johns Pass, still hoping we might run into that mysterious group reported earlier. As we began our journey back to Friday harbor, hugging the west side of Orcas Island down San Juan Channel we continued to scan the water for signs of Killer Whales. Just as everyone had almost lost hope, we received a whale report from fellow naturalist, Laura, in the Friday harbor office! She spotted a group of Biggs’s Killer Whales just outside Friday Harbor heading north in our direction. Thrilled, we raced down San Juan channel to find the T123’s and spent as much time with them as we could before the tour reached its 4-hour mark. It just goes to show that our search for whales never ends!