Naturalist Rachel, M/V Sea lion, March 28, 2018
Today we were lucky to find an abundance of wildlife in the San Juan Islands. First we headed to Spieden Island where we saw a large haul out of Steller’s Sea Lions. We also spotted some non-native sheep as well. We then went up to Canada where we saw a lone Pacific white sided dolphin, commonly referred to as lags. This was the first time in multiple years that either Brian or I had observed these charismatic creatures. This was one lone dolphin cruising around the United States and Canadian border. We then got a report of Orcas near Friday Harbor!
So we quickly left the dolphin and headed back that direction. On our way we got to see a minke whale, one of the smallest of the baleen whales. This minke was just slowly cruising down San Juan channel, which made for great viewing for our guests. We then got to the area of the orca sighting. We saw two transient male orcas, T124C and T49A1. We watched as the males made two kills and shared the prey afterwards. It is not uncommon to see male transients break off from their natal group, whether that be temporarily or permanently. Our guests were so thrilled to have such an action filled spring trip aboard the Sea Lion.