Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, April 11th | 12:30 pm
Today’s Classic Whale Watch and Wildlife Tour was filled with diverse wildlife, seeing many different species during our 4-hour tour. Immediately as we exited Friday Harbor we were greeted by a group of foraging Dall’s Porpoise! Although not rare, we are not greeted by the presence of Dall’s all that often, making it an extra special tour every time we have an encounter. Dall’s Porpoise are often dubbed, the second coolest black and white creature that can be found in the Salish Sea. Considering us naturalists only see them a handful of times a year, they might take my number one spot!
We left the Dall’s and traveled north into the flat calm waters of Boundary Pass. Boundary looked like a lake, if there was a whale out there, no way we wouldn’t see it. We stopped to view some harbor seals at White Rock and continued towards East Point. We did a slow cruise on the north side of Sucia to observe a bald eagle perched high on a treetop. Next we stopped to look at some sunbathing Steller Sea Lions. Up until this point we did not have any whale sightings in our range. Luckily a fellow Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) vessel found a Gray Whale not far from where we were. We departed the Steller’s and headed towards the report in Rosario Strait. We hung out with Gray Whale CRC-2557 for several surfacing’s. We even witnessed a few tail fluke dives. Gray Whales do not bring their flukes out of the water nearly as much as humpbacks do, so it’s always a treat to witness.
I had my first Dall’s Porpoise and Gray Whale sighting of the year in the same trip! Any tour with a black and white creature is a success in my book.