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Mountains and Humpback Whales Around the San Juan Islands

A humpback whale dives

Yesterday was another gorgeous spring day here in the San Juan Islands full of lots and lots of wildlife. This time of year we have been heading north out of the harbor for the most part as there tends to be much to look at in and amongst the smaller northern islands. Heading south, just means cruising some open water!

As we made our way south we were treated to sweeping views of all four of the main San Juan Islands. Here we only have four islands that are serviced by the Washington State Ferries: San Juan, Shaw, Lopez, and Orcas. All of the other islands in the archipelago (there are 172 named islands!) are accessed using private vessels or chartered vessels… so our commutes are a bit different around here!

We also were able to see so many of the surrounding mountain peaks, from the very grand Mt. Baker, to the entire Olympic Range, to the towering dome of Mt. Rainer as we motored out through Cattle Pass between San Juan Island and Lopez Island. It is such a treat to see more snow on top of these summits than there was last year.

We stopped to observe some Steller’s sea lions on Whale Rocks before heading out into the south end of Haro Strait. There are several banks, or shallow areas, in the Strait that create incredible productive areas due to the upwelling that goes on around them. These banks are awesome places to search for humpback whales and minke whales. We even saw a fin whale, the second largest animal in the world, out in these areas last summer!

Yesterday we cruised out towards Eastern Bank where we found one of our favorite humpback whales, BCY0160 Heather. She was casually making her way around the bank, most likely feeding in the nutrient-rich water. Humpback whales will eat over a ton of small fish and shrimp a day. These prey items are right around the same size as our pinky fingers, because humpbacks cannot swallow anything larger! Their throats are only about the size of a grapefruit!

After hanging out with Heather for about forty-five minutes, we started to head back towards San Juan Island. We stopped to check out an active bald eagle nest as well as a huge group of harbor seals in the water around Cape of San Juan. We had just an incredible day for wildlife yesterday!

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