Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 07/22/19 | 1:30pm
What an adventure!
Today, Captain Pete, Naturalist Erin and I headed out of Friday Harbor with no reports of whales!
We searched and searched the surrounding area. We boated up through the channel between Shaw and Lopez and down under Decatur Island and through the Lopez Passage. We headed across the Rosario Strait, all the while looking for any signs of wildlife.
We made it all the way to Whidbey Island and here we found a blow really close to shore! We found a gray whale! So cool! We were only in about 35 feet of water, so we were really lucky to see this whale dive and surface every couple minutes! Gray whales hunt along the sea floor so, most likely, this whale chose the shallow waters to feed in order to make it easier to dive.
His beautiful mottled back broke through the water and we saw half of his tail as he started to turn on his side every time that he dove! Most gray whales are right sided, so we saw the left portion of his tail as he swam along the bottom of the sea on his right side.
Eventually we had to leave but along the way we stopped by some rocks. There were so many birds swarming this island, cormorants and sea gulls swooping every which way. Then we spotted harbor seals! These cuties were resting along the rocks close to the water as they flopped around and absorbed the warm sun rays. One even fell in the water!
Finally, we worked our way back through the islands and made it back home. So much fun!