What an amazing day our trip was! Captain Brian and myself started our day out with no firm reports of whales, which is not unique for this time of year- it just means that we were even more determined to find some awesome things for our new friends on board to see!
We worked our way up North, heading toward the Strait of Georgia. We checked out some Steller Sea Lions on our way up there, they were pretty entertaining! As we were heading into the Strait we kept our eyes peeled, trying to look for blows or exhalations breaking the surface of the water, scanning in all directions.
Captain Brian sensed something around, and even saw something in the distance, we scanned the area with binoculars and sure enough he had found us a Minke whale! What an awesome treat! We got some incredible looks at this Minke whale and our guests got some amazing photos!
I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and excitedly turned to Captain Brian exclaiming what I’d just seen! We were both so excited to see that this was indeed a Humpback whale surfacing right by us!
It is always such an amazing treat when you find a whale, and for all of our guests on board it felt like we had had such a successful trip! But it wasn’t over yet!!! As we were heading back to Friday Harbor, Captain Brian got a call from one of the other captains in the area saying there were Biggs Killer Whales right outside Friday Harbor! We couldn’t believe our luck- and of course headed straight there!
It ended up being “The Kids,” a group of adolescent Transient Orcas that were hanging together. They were very fun to watch and they popped in and out of Friday Harbor. We stayed with them for a nice chunk of time, extending our trip about an hour longer, to ensure that we got to spend enough time with these amazing creatures.
This was truly an amazing trip! Especially considering we started out with no technical reports, and by the end of the trip had seen almost everything imaginable! I won’t be forgetting this perfect trip any time soon!
Until Next Time,
Naturalist Alexandria