Elle | M/V Kestrel | 8/9/2022 | 2:00 PM
Today was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions! We started our journey from San Juan Island and followed reports of Bigg's killer whales towards the Rosario Strait. In Obstruction Pass, we spotted an osprey! This fish-eating bird (and the namesake of one of our vessels) is rarely spotted here in the San Juans because bald eagles feed on similar prey and will chase them out of the area. Just around the corner, to our surprise, sat two adult bald eagles, likely one of our 154 mating pairs here. After enjoying these majestic birds, we knew we were off to a good start.
Soon, we came upon a group of five orca whales, the T37A family. The were in the middle of hunting a harbor seal when we arrived and pushed the poor seal towards our boat while diving, flipping, and slapping their tails on the water to disorient the seal. The pushed their prey into less than fifteen feet of water, then swam in the opposite direction indicating that the were done with their hunt. One harbor seal is about how much a single orca will eat in a day. As the whales headed towards Lummi Island and north, they celebrated their hunt by rolling onto their backs, showing us their bellies, slapping the water with their pectoral fins, and even breaching out of the water!
After they headed off in "travel mode" we explored Lummi Rocks and Pea-Pod Rocks and saw many harbor seals, including a pup that was molting ('tis the season), as well as some seals feasting on a yellow-eyed rockfish, a rare sight!
Another rare sight (and our third predation event today) was a sea lion eating a dogfish shark. The pinniped dropped its dinner when it heard us and we were left to see a shark whose pectoral fins had been eaten off and was struggling to swim. To wrap up our trip, we saw two ravens alongside a bald eagle, an omen of death to some, which proved to be accurate today! Nature is brutal!