We were greeted with beautiful weather out on the water today: seas like glass, sunny, and clear. Perfect for spotting minke whales, and that’s just what we were looking for. Off the south end of San Juan Island, around Salmon Bank (48º24.977’N 122º 57.291’ W), we came across at least three or four minke whales. Two of which were traveling right next to each other! Baleen whales typically travel individually in feeding grounds, so seeing two, twenty-five foot whales surface one after the other, multiple times was quite a sight! Also during this trip we saw four bald eagles, dozens of harbor seals both on land and in the water, cormorants, common murres, rhinoceros auklets, and a large steller’s sea lion swimming around.
~Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris