Today was one of those days where you look out at the water and think, "Wow, the world is magical." The temperature was perfect, a light breeze was blowing through Roche Harbor, and there was barely a white puff in the sky. As Captain Pete and I prepared the boat for our whale watches, I could sense the feeling of peace that the San Juan Islands bring to residents and guests alike. After our passengers boarded, we headed out of the harbor, ready for whatever came our way. With some exciting reports of the majestic and massive humpback whales spotted out in San Juan Channel, we headed south down the east side of the island.
We were able to spot the beautiful blows of the humpbacks near the entrance to Friday Harbor! Two animals were slowly making their way down the channel, surprising us with their frequent surfacing (they can stay down for anywhere from 5 to 60 minutes, depending) and multiple fluke-up dives. It was an unusual behavior to see them surfacing and diving every few minutes, because they will usually come up, take multiple breaths, and deep dive back down for a while. But these animals appeared to want to soak up the sun as much as we did today! We were able to hang out with the humpbacks for a good hour or so before we turned back and headed north.
On our second trip, we headed north instead to see what lay in store for us near Spieden and Stuart Island. And what a surprise for us! We are fairly certain we spotted an elephant seal bobbing around near John's Island, due to the size of it's massive head. We originally thought it was just a buoy floating around, but Captain Pete shouted out, "I think that's an elephant seal!" and we all hurriedly rushed up with our binoculars. I think he was right! It's amazing to see these animals, because they're fairly rare. This was the first they've been spotted by us this season. What a treat!
We enjoyed some beautiful shorelines cruises around Stuart, Turn Point, John's Island, Spieden, and Henry Island, viewing cormorants, eagles, harbor seals feeding on not-so-lucky flounders, propoises playing in our wake, and all sorts of bird life. It was a beautiful day out here on the water.