Saturday September 6th was a great day on the water. M/V Sea lion, captain, crew, and guests enjoyed the sunny weather and calm seas on the south west side of San Juan Island today. The resident (salmon-eating) orcas seem to still be finding food here in the Salish Sea and were back in full force. We had reports of all three pods in the area (J, K, and L)! We spent most of our afternoon with what seemed to be a mixture of K and L pods, with some close looks at K21 and L44 both mature males in the Southern Resident community. But killer whales weren't all the guests got to see!
We also got to spend some time viewing Stellar Seal Lion males fighting and barking at each other for space on the rocks. The seal lions like to rest and warm up while hauled out on the rocks but the males compete for the highest spot on the rocks. It was amazing to see these 2000+ lb whales battle it out. We also got lucky enough to spy a Tufted puffin!! Extremely rare in this area but our guests got to see a solitary bird hanging with some gulls, and auklets.
Beautiful, fun filled day on the water today!
Naturalist,
Chelsea
San Juan Safaris