Today was a cloudy day here in the San Juans, The islands look they do for most of the year, not the bright sunny days, but the cool green and grey days where the clouds begin just where the trees end. Captain Mike and I headed north towards Flattop and Spieden Islands to check a pretty common place where marine mammals are found due to the currents that concentrate food in that area. We first spotted a Humpback Whale near Flattop Island. It was a young humpback that has been hanging around the past few days eating its little heart out. We watched it for a while, it fluked a few times, did a couple cartwheels, and we got to see its tubercles! These are the bumps that are on the front of the whales face. They are hairs surrounded by fat and nerves that serve as sensory apparatus. After watching the humpback for awhile we moved on to watch some Harbor Seals, some Steller’s Sea Lions, a whole bunch of Harbor Porpoise playing in a rip. We ended it all by watching a few huge Fallow Deer walking along the shore of Spieden Island. These deer are from Europe and were brought to this island with a few other exotic species in the 60’s. Whale folks that’s it for us today, hope yours is as San Juanderul as ours
Naturalist Erick
M/V Sea Lion