Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | 6/14/2022 |12:30PM
Captain Erick and I left the dock with a smaller group today. It’s always refreshing to have a boat with only a few folks, as it gives you the perfect opportunity to better connect with your guests. With only 8 passengers aboard, M/V Sea Lion cruised out of Friday Harbor for a quick San Juan Channel crossing right into Upright Channel. We hugged the coast of Lopez Island before puttering around Ram Island into Lopez pass. While in Lopez pass, we got the opportunity to view a bald eagle fly close to the shoreline and land near Sperry Point.
Our first stop was to Bird Rocks to follow up on a report of a sea otter playing around in the bull kelp. Coming across a sea otter in the Salish Sea is a rare sight, so I was stoked to see that furry little freak! Freak you may ask? Why call such a cute creature a freak? Well, I encourage you to do some research. Maybe google “why sea otters are not cute” and see what pops up… Any who, we also got to view a few hauled-out harbor seals before heading to the reason we came to Rosario Strait. That reason being... Bigg’s Killer Whales!
T049A2 “Jude” and T065A3 “Amira” two 15-year-old male killer whales have been tearing up the Salish Sea. On the loose from their families, they’ve been nicknamed the “Butcher Boys” as they’ve been murdering seals all across the San Juans. We got to spend the majority of our afternoon in the presence of these whales as they hugged the coast of Lopez Island. The southern side of Lopez is gorgeous, with many small islands with exaggerated cliff sides like Castle Island. Seeing these angsty teens weave through these islands was the cherry on top of a perfect trip!