What a beautiful day out on the water today! With the sun out shining and the warmth igniting our excitement, we set out for adventure.
Captain Brian and I and our guests headed out of Friday Harbor on our speediest vessel and booked it up north towards the promise of potential whales. We sped past Orcas Island and towards the Canadian border. Hoping the wildlife would stay over within American territory, we approached the scene.
As we slowed, we saw some blows! It was two orca whales! As we looked at the dorsal fins, we could see that they were transient Orcas (aka Biggs killer whales) named T49A1 and T49A2. These two brothers were zigzagging around the oceans and luckily stuck close to the American islands. They approached Patos island and clung close to shore. Suddenly, there was splashing! The Orcas had rushed towards a group of seals. They were clearly terrified. Counterintuitively, they kept into the water. Seals actually feel a lot safer in the water. Because in land, they can hardly even move! It seemed like the whales made a successful kill because they circled and seemed to food share. We watched as they continued on searching for more prey.
Eventually, we said goodbye and headed towards Skipjack Island. Here we found some harbor seals lounging in the water. It was fun to see an up close view of the prey animals we just witnessed being eaten. We also saw a beautiful juvenile bald eagle perched high in the tree tops!
Finally we boated back home to Friday Harbor. Such a good day!