Olivia E. | May 24th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm
Despite the gray skies, the tour did not disappoint; what an amazing day on the water! We started off by getting everyone geared up in their very trendy, yellow rain slickers and (of course) warm, cozy blankets. Starting off, everyone was having great conversation which was a fun way to interact as a group and connect for the next 3-4 hours. The boat was very excited to see the Steller Sea Lions relatively quickly, as they are getting ready to migrate back to Alaska towards their feeding grounds. All their girlfriends up north are about to give birth to their one pup and (Mom’s, you’ll love this) breed 10 days to 2 weeks afterwards with their gigantic males. To our excitement, we saw the Harbor Seals playing in the water right next to them! This was a great opportunity to visually see the difference in these Pinnipeds. Not only the diversity of seals and sea lions, but their sheer size. Fun Fact: Steller’s Sea Lions are the world’s largest sea lion, while Harbor Seals are the world’s second smallest seal.
Moving on, we stumbled upon a solitary Harbor Porpoise. This initiated squeals of joy from a few of our guests. Since these small porpoises are very shy and assume anything larger is going to prey on them (looking at you, Bigg’s), we continue forward in order to not cause any anxiety with these cuties. I told the ladies, “If you’re excited about these guys, you just wait!”
Here we go, the moment we have all been waiting for, Bigg’s Killer Whales! We had the honor of viewing the T65A’s with a teenage male and new, young calf. There were about six individuals in total, one of which flipped the little calf right into the air! This was all playful, of course, since their young ones learn and play much like we do. Tour couldn’t get any better, right? Wrong! We had a beautiful proposal on board. It was the women’s goal to see Orcas, and that’s when her new fiancé got down on one knee. Can we say brownie points?
Big thanks to Captain Pete who drove us through Frost Island and Spencer’s Spit where we were able to view our majestic Bald Eagles and their six-foot wingspan. Our Salish Sea wildlife does not care if its cloudy, rainy, or beautiful skies, they will always bring the sunshine to our lives.