Sarah | M/V Sea Lion | 09/20/2018 | 02:00pm
Today we enjoyed an amazing trip spent surrounded by wildlife and the beautiful scenery of the San Juan Islands. Even though we had a bit of rain throughout the day it did not deter our sightings!
We left Friday harbor and headed across San Juan Channel towards Shaw Island. Someone had reported a possible whale tucked into one of the many coves along the shoreline. Half way across the channel… POOF! A minke whale materialized out of the upwelling north of Reid Rock. These small whales are right around thirty feet long, and are most closely related to the largest whales on the planet: blue and fin whales. After a great encounter with the minke whale we pressed further south into Cattle Pass on the search for more wildlife!
We decided to stop at a frequently used sea lion haul out before venturing out into Haro Strait. We got an awesome look at the Steller’s sea lions up on Whale Rocks, marveling at just how big they are! After leaving the sea lions we went out on the look for orcas!
We found members of our Southern Resident killer whale population spread out and foraging all along the west side of San Juan Island. After getting a good look at some of the saddle patches, the unique gray marking right behind the whales’ dorsal fins, we realized that we had members of K pod around the boat. We had a great encounter with these special, critically endangered, salmon-eating whales.
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