M/V Sea Lion | Friday, May 18th | Naturalist Alexandria | 2:00 PM
What a great day we had today! As we were heading out of harbor we decided we were going to head south and see what we could find. When we hit the water with no firm reports, all the captains are in constant communication with each other, and work together to decide where each boat is heading, all in an effort to ensure that we scan as many areas as possible looking for whales and wildlife.
We decided to head south since there were already a lot of boats that were heading north, and we wanted to check out some areas that no one had scouted out already. Captain Pete headed south down San Juan Channel, and we stopped by and hung out with some Steller Sea Lions and Harbor Seals. We got some fantastic looks at both these pinnipeds! It is always a special treat when we get to see Steller Sea Lions this time of year- most are starting to head to Alaska for the summer months, so we are one of the last groups of trips this Spring that will get to see these awesome creatures!
As we were heading out of San Juan Channel Captain Pete received word that a humpback whale had been spotted near MacArthur Bank! How perfect- we were already almost there!
We excitedly headed out there, and were immediately treated to some amazing views of this Humpback! After getting a good look at the underside of his flukes we were able to ID our Humpback as “Scratchy.” Scratchy had been seen in and out the last few days, and we were so excited to get to see him! His name is Scratchy because he has some little scratch marks on his flukes, which make his tail very unique.
After spending a nice long chunk of time with Scratchy, we continued north a bit and caught up with a Minke whale. Sometimes Minke whales are hard to spot because they can swim quickly, and take deep dives- but this Minke we were lucky to spend time with was spending a lot of time at the surface- which was awesome for us because we got to spend a lot of time with it!
Any trip were we see a whale is an incredible trip- but on trips like today where we get to see 2 whales, it makes it even more amazing! But the fun didn’t stop there- as we were heading out and we didn’t think we could possibly see anything more, Naturalist Erick spotted two Tufted Puffins! We got some great looks at these guys- which is always such a treat, since they are a rare but exciting bird to see in this area!
What a fantastic day!
Until Next Time,
Naturalist Alexandria