Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 06/23/19 | 11:00am
The day started with clouds floating low in the sky. It wasn’t the typical overcast but somehow much more beautiful as they hid the distant mountains. Captain Gabe and I took the Kestrel out of Friday Harbor and headed north through the San Juan Channel.
We sped towards this beautiful island called Flattop and stopped along its shoreline. Here we found a bald eagle perched high in a tree, its white head glowing in the light. Then we saw movement in the water!
Harbor seals swam about, close to the rocks disappearing and reappearing at the surface of the water, their little heads bobbing up and down. Potentially they were looking for food or just playing close to shore.
Then another giant eagle flew by super close to our boat! You could definitely see its giant wingspan as it passed by.
Then, we headed up across Boundary Pass towards East Point off Saturna Island and a bit further north into the Strait of Georgia where we found a humpback whale! His giant tail appeared out of nowhere pretty close to our boat! Very exciting. We stopped and watched him swim and dive and show us his tail a few more times. What a wonderful unexpected surprise!
Then we headed all the way across the strait towards Point Roberts and found orca whales! Looking at the unique dorsal fins, we learned they were the T36As and the T65As! Together we watched 10 whales! One group swam closer to our boat while the other pod swam closer to land as they both picked up speed heading west up the Strait of Georgia. They swam so fast! Battling rough currents, some of them even leapt completely out of the water! It was a beautiful sight to behold.
Eventually, we turned around and headed back home to Friday Harbor. What a fun day!