Olivia | September 11th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am
Wednesday morning was an exceptional day on the adventure Kestrel trip. It has been a while since both Captain Pete and I have been on our zodiac and were equally excited to hit the water. However, we couldn’t get our boat up to full speed because just outside of Friday Harbor in San Juan Channel was a Humpback Whale! This was personally my first time seeing this type of Baleen Whale in the channel and we spent about a half hour viewing and chatting about the magic of our ocean giants.
We drifted off and headed north up the channel towards Spieden Island where we caught brief glimpses of Mouflon Sheep, Fallow Deer, Bald Eagles, and Harbor Seals. We didn’t spend too much time there because we had some black and white reports up by Saltspring Island on the Canadian side of the Salish Sea. We passed Turn Point Lighthouse, the most northwest lighthouse in the United States, and found some Bigg’s Killer Whales!
This family group comprised of the T18/T19’s which were two females and two males. They are one of our crew favorites because the eldest male, born in 1995, has a very large dorsal fin that leans to the left. It is fun seeing such a scale difference between the two genders and the power of the Orcas. Heading home, since we boated such a long way, we waved at the MMX0007 Humpback still in the Harbor. His name is very appropriately “Bond” and has been lingering around our waters for a couple days continuously munching in our productive waters. It’s always fun seeing returning whales, come join us to be a part of the continuous adventure!