Laura | M/V Osprey | 6/4/2021| 12:30
It was a wonderful day out in the Salish Sea this afternoon! We headed north through San Juan Channel and started looking for all the prey items of our Bigg’s killer whales, like seals, sea lions and harbor porpoises! We searched through Spieden Channel and found some adorable harbor seals and bald eagles! Spieden Island is a great place to check out our bald eagle population and look for some cool non-native animals that have been residing here for over 50 years! We took a few minutes to check out a nesting pair of bald eagles as they took flight together and landed on a nearby branch. Bald eagles are such a peaceful element to the Salish Sea, and I could not imagine the sky here without them.
After leaving this area, we headed north towards Turn Point Lighthouse on Stewart Island. To the right of the lighthouse there is a large rocky cliff that used to be a cormorant rookery. We commonly find pigeon guillemots and other pelagic bird species that go into these rock crevices to nest. Passengers continued to help scan around through surrounding channels and large areas of open water in search of a single breath from a whale. At this point in the trip, there were no whale reports in U.S waters, so the pressure was on to find a whale out there today! Captain Gabe continued northbound on our search pattern in Boundary Pass towards East Point. We moved right along our U.S border, scanning far out in search of any whales possibly moving south in the Strait of Georgia. After much effort, we finally spotted a distant blow in Canada near East Point! Passengers were thrilled to have seen their first humpback, as he/she fluked into the distance. Luckily, dives times were 3-4 minutes so we were able to see this whale for a few surfacings before we had to make our way back home towards San Juan Island. Our groups on the water today were such troopers and everyone was optimistic and so helpful in our search of whales today!
On our way back, we were excited to see a beautiful engagement take place on Osprey’s bow! A huge congratulations to James and Carleigh!! We wish you both the very best and were so happy to be apart of this special moment! And a second congratulations to another couple on our tour, Melissa and Ryan, are getting married this upcoming Sunday! It was a great day to be out on the water celebrating with so many wonderful people and we wish you all the best!