It was a beautiful trip from the beginning today! Heading out of Friday Harbor on a wonderfully clear day we were able to get some amazing views of the snow-capped Mt. Baker. The usual sunbatheing Harbor seals were all out in about swimming on both sides of the boat and we got a great view of a tiny harbor seal pup swimming along! Continuing on our way out we passed by a few stellar sea lions also in the water and one with a fish in it's mouth! We rounded cattle point and headed up the west side of San Juan as there were reports that the elusive L-pod was in the area! And boy were they! We estimated that we saw the majority of L Pod today with sighting over 30+ members of the pod! It's very seldom that we are able to see an entire pod together like today! They were putting on a bit of a celebration with lots of activity that started with a tail slapping youngster... then led to a mature male breaching entirely out of the water! The activity continued as we got a very good look at "Mega" (L-41) the largest male out of all 3 resident pods! As our whale viewing time started running low, we had a hard time leaving as we were completely surrounded by whales! We got a few surprise close looks as we slowly made our way out of whale territory and watched the partying continue behind us as we ventured back to Friday Harbor!
Alex Hill
Naturalist