Olivia | June 6th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30pm
What. A. Night. This was the most incredible tour I have had thus far! Captain Gabe and I barely made it out of the harbor; “barely” as in we never had the chance to pick up speed because the family of Bigg’s Killer Whales (T65B’s and T137’s) we saw during the morning tour had traveled about 20 miles north since then and were now directly in front of Friday Harbor. This was extra incredible because our passengers have all traveled far to get here to see these beauties and in turn, we didn’t make them travel any further. In addition to that, they were extremely playful! It was a combination of dinner and play time, where I may have been extremely enthusiastic as this was blowing my mind.
There were many repeated behaviors we saw between all six individuals. They were all breaching, where they thrust their entire body out of the water either on their back or side, exposing their underbelly, resulting in a huge splash. This was especially adorable with that young calf. There were many spy hops, where they rise out of the water vertically to look around--shout out to the wonderful Texas woman that captured this on camera! We also saw many flips, tail flukes hovering over the surface, and lobtailing. Lobtailing is when they smack their tail fluke on the surface of the water to make loud noises both above and below the surface. This also included dorsal and pectoral fin slapping! Now imagine all six individuals doing this together; this smile has yet to leave my face.
There is something so raw, pure, and relatable about viewing these moments of feeding and play. It’s a reminder that these marine mammals are not so different from ourselves as they teach their young through structured behavior and play. We viewed these Killer Whales for quite a while, respecting the 200yard limit of viewing. We thought it was time to carry on and see what else was around as the sun started to dim and a sprinkle of rain began to fall. We boated up the San Juan Channel towards Spieden Island to see what other animals we could find. On route, we witnessed at least 15 Harbor Porpoises dispersing around the boat. While these shy porpoises usually react best if we keep traveling, Gabe decided to slow down and let us take in yet another incredible moment. From there we went around the north, forested side of the previous Safari Island to view Bald Eagles. There were so many! Did you know they will return to the same nests year after year with the same mate to raise their clutch of 2 eggs. They continuously add to these nests resulting in them getting as deep as 6 feet and over 2000 pounds.
As we traveled between the Cactus Islands, we stumbled upon Harbor Seals both snoozing and playing in the water. Once we start seeing a spike in their population with the pups being born, usually in June, we also tend to see a spike in the Bigg’s Killer Whale population as well. As we wrapped around the south side of the island, we saw heaps of Mouflon Sheep, Fallow Deer, and Sika Deer grazing, running and playing as the rain settled and a rainbow silhouetted them on the hill. Low and behold, here came the Bigg’s again!
I could write a novel on this one evening. Gorgeous rainbows, sunsets, and incredible wildlife enjoying this all as much as we are. Come join us on M/V Sea Lion to embrace these bucket list moments!