Happy Memorial Day! Today's whale watch and wildlife tour took off just as Friday Harbor's Memorial Day Parade was ending, and our introduction was punctuated by rifle blanks firing and finished up with a canon fire! How much more of an exciting start to a tour could you ask for?
As we turned away from the dock, the sun on our skin and the crystal calm waters stretching below us, we were happy to be notified about a group of transient killer whales moving south off of Point Roberts, just off of Vancouver, BC. Killer whales, moving right towards us! Their position was still a little bit of a treck from Friday Harbor, so we scooted north at a clippy pace, catching glimpses of harbor porpoises and bald eagles as we went.
Almost immediately after we pulled up amongst the other whale watching vessels, our for-sure indicator that whales are nearby, a huge male killer whale was spotted off of our bow! As soon as we all turned our heads in his direction, we were greeted by more and more killer whales, seemingly popping up all around our boat! Off of our right hand side was a group of 6, milling about a few hundred yards from our vessel. Off of our left, a group of 3, travelling parallel to us and that one big male still tracking directly in front of us. You know that it's a good whale day when you can look in any direction and see orcas!
We watched these 10 individuals, split into two family groups (the T100's and T86A's), accompanied by a lone male (T77A), for what seemed like an eternity and a millisecond simultaneously. We could hear them surface as they moved closer to our boat, their powerful breaths reaching high into the air. We could see every knick, ding, and scratch on their dorsal fins and saddle patches, the sun gleaming off of their white markings. Every time we thought we had had our best looks, they proved us wrong, and by the time we had to turn back home we felt immensly grateful and satisfied. Little did we know, we had one more surprise sighting before ending our trip today.
As we turned back into the San Juans, we were surprised to find a completely different species of whale, just a few short miles from these marine-mammal eating orcas. A humpback whale nicknamed "Big Mama" was circling the waters off of Patos Island, displaying her fluke occasionally as she went on deeper dives in search of schooling baitfish. Humpback whales are increasing exponentially in numbers in this area, but theyr'e still a fairly rare find. To find one on the same day that we see not one, but two orca family groups? Almost unheard of.
With unforgettable memories in mind and amazing photos and videos in hand, we made our way back to Friday Harbor in the heat of the day. We docked and deboarded with a spring in our step from experiencing so many amazing things in a short four-hour trip, and left to enjoy the rest of our memorial day with perhaps a patriotic cocktail or two!