When a Captain decides to take the Sea Lion up North into Boundary Pass and beyond, I'm always hopeful. We left with reports of a Humpback near East Point on Saturna Island, which is what we aimed for leaving the dock. We got to see a lot more.
Meandering up North our guests were treated to Steller Sea Lions, Bald Eagles, and a lot of Harbor Porpoise en-route to where other companies are currently watching the Humpback. When we arrived on scene, we quickly determined this individual whale was Big Mamma, otherwise known as BCY0324. This ID code is in reference to where the individual was identified, BC for British Columbia. X,Y, or Z for the amount of white on the flukes. And, the number for the individual.
While watching the Humpback heading West across the coast of Saturna, we heard reports of a group of Dall's Porpoise nearby. Leaving the Humpback we met up with a large group of Dall's Porpoise who were incredibly friendly and rambunctious. They played in the wake of the boats in the area and even went out to rush through the huge waves a tanker made as it passed by to the West.
After getting our heart rates going, watching the Dall's zipping around, we eased into some wildlife viewing before heading back into Port. Between the Cactus Islands and Speiden we saw lots of Harbor Seals lounging and Bald Eagles posted up on Douglas Firs. But I'll be honest, all we could think about were the Dall's we'd seen out on Boundary Pass all the way home.
Naturalist Brendan
M/V Sea Lion, San Juan Safaris