Jordan | July 15, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00
Today’s trip was so great! The morning was lucky to have a clear sky with no clouds and a shining sun. We had a great group of people really excited to go on an adventure! Captain Mike and I heard multiple reports of whales so we decided to take our speedy boat down through the San Juan Channel. Before we headed too far south, we stopped by Whale Rocks and visit the harbor seals that were lounging close to the surface of the water, soaking up as many sun rays as possible! They were well camouflaged against the rocky island. They definitely do look like rock sausages!
Then we headed further south into Smith Bank where we found Bigg’s (transient) whales. There were about 7 whales from the T37 and T34 pods joined by a huge male, T73B. It was so fun to watch them splashing around being playful with each other! T73B was being super cute and almost every time he surfaced to breathe, he popped his tail out of the water and excitedly tapped it on the surface of the water! As he was doing that you could see his tail curl! As male orcas grow, their tail flukes curl under. And his dorsal fin was so huge that you could see the structure wobbling in the wind (because dorsal fins are made of entirely cartilage, with no bones to support it!) A few of the whales got pretty close to our boat but really close to one of the other boats! It was hilarious to hear the people on that boat screaming with excitement!
After we spent enough time with the whales, we headed to Smith Island where we found puffins floating in the water! It was really exciting to see these little diving birds swimming all around with their bright orange beaks and their little black and white bodies.
Then we headed towards bald eagles on Long Island! We spotted a huge nest in the trees with two babies sitting inside. However, these “babies” were enormous and definitely need to leave the nest soon. Then we also spotted one of their parents sitting nearby! She was posing just a few feet away, guarding her home and her offspring.
What a great day full of so many animals to see!