Laura / M/V Sea Lion / 3/25/2022 / 12:30PM
I love the days that I walk off the boat thinking “that was just such a cool whale watch!” And today was one of those afternoons. Our vessel headed all the way towards Port Angeles near Dungeness Spit, a long journey south. There was a Bigg’s killer whale report in that area, and as we were keeping tabs on their travel patterns from vessels to the south of us, everyone was hoping the whales weren’t going to continue out of our range. We had a long but hopeful journey to the Olympic Peninsula, and it was a perfect day to move through the Haro Strait. The seas were like pure glass, and there were light blue skies all around the white-capped mountains, creating a view you would only imagine in a pristine watercolor painting.
We had time on our voyage to discuss the entire ecosystem around us, scanning for pelagic birds as they dove for forage fish and occasionally spotting harbor seals as they dove near loose bull kelp. The seas were so flat we could see every piece of driftwood and any changes to the water’s surface immediately attracted attention. Passengers talked about the status of salmon in these waters, and the recent changes we have witnessed in the Salish Sea. Other than dam removal to provide spawning sites for salmon to regain their numbers, forage fish protection is key, as they are their main food source for these larger fish and may determine the long-term fate of salmon. Herring spawn in the Salish Sea near our island beaches, and researchers are marking critical habitat areas along our shorelines as they gain more knowledge about their areas of preference. Eelgrass creates an important habitat for these small schooling fish and supports an entire marine food web.
We continued on our journey and finally got to witness our first exhalations from two Bigg’s killer whales! T77, a female estimated to be around 42-years-old, was traveling alongside her newest offspring, T77E, born in 2016. “Asja”, or T77, may be able to have at least one more calf in her lifetime, so I am excited to see if over the next couple years she shows up one day with a new baby! T77E’s nickname is “Misneach”, meaning “stay with the boat” in Scottish. Since T77E has three other siblings that stays with mom, and one brother who does not, I wouldn’t be surprised if more family members were not too far from this pair today. We were able to watch T77 and T77E for quite a while and witnessed a couple of close passes as they slowly made their way through the area. Passengers were so excited to see these two beautiful animals in their natural environment, just a mom enjoying the calm day with her baby!
Our trip concluded with a bunch of rowdy Steller sea lions climbing all over Whale Rocks near cattle pass! We all enjoyed seeing such great activity all the way through our tour, even to the very end! For the bird enthusiasts, the bald eagles, pigeon guillemots, western grebes, cormorants and common murres were abundant and happily feasting in the Salish Sea!