10/3/17- M/V Sea lion- 12PM
We left Friday Harbor and headed towards Haro Strait, towards reports of Bigg’s killer whales in the area. We had barely made it out of the harbor when a humpback surprised us near the shoreline of San Juan Island. We quickly turned around to follow the animal as it traveled South East. We watched as the humpback whale did a few diving sequences, showing us its beautiful 15ft wide tail. We decided to keep going and head towards the orca reports.
On our way towards that area we saw a huge Steller’s sea lion swimming in the water in the middle of San Juan Channel. We stopped to see the burley animal as it spent some time breathing at the surface.
We finally made it to Haro Strait where we saw the T65A’s, one of our best known transient groups in this area, slowly heading North towards Vancouver. We watched as the whales made a slow moving travel with a few path divergences, possibly failed or unenthusiastic hunting attempts. Our guests were surprised by the grace of the orcas as they move through the water.
On our way home we saw a few pods of Dall’s porpoise, neither of which was too interested in hanging out with the boat. Sometimes Dall’s porpoise enjoy bow and wake riding, but these guys weren’t having it, so we just watched them surfacing and traveling through the channel.
We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful fall day to spend some time out on the water with our wildlife.
Naturalist, Rachel