Jordan | May 24, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 4:00 trip
It's me again! Today was such a fantastic trip out on the water. Despite the gray Washington clouds overhead, the wildlife definitely birghtened our day. Captain Gabe and I, and our 8 new best friends, adventured out to sea in one of the fastest boats in San Juan! The Kestrel.
We headed north through the San Juan Channel and immediately got lucky with some harbor seal sightings! Trying to escape the frigid water, they all squeezed onto a tiny rock poking out of the water. They looked super snuggly, laying basically on top of each other!
But then our luck continued as we found Humpback whales! Two adult Humpback whales leisurely swam past Waldron Island. One whale was identified as "Split Fin," one of San Juan's favorite Humpback whales! Last year "Split Fin" was seen swimming alongside a whale named "Zig Zag." So, although not confirmed, the other whale could have been his same friend from last year! As the whales dove, they showed off their 15 foot wide tails! It gave us the chance to compare the two tails and see how different they looked. One was mostly black with a few white speckles, but the other had two large white spotches! Such differences allow us to identify individual whales.
Then, we headed back south and found Orca whales! And they were right outside of Friday Harbor, right where we started! Pretty cool. We really didn't have to travel far to see our wildlife today which allowed us to have a lot more time to watch all our whales! We got really lucky. It was so nice to see the T65As! This family is definitely one of my favorites here in the the San Juans. Right away we saw some thrashing and splashing as the Orcas were hunting a seal along the shoreline! Then suddenly, it got really quiet. I assumed that meant they were enjoying a successful meal. Then they headed up north, staying along the shoreline of San Juan. At one point, they got really slow and really close together as they breathed in unison. It seemed as though they were potentially enjoying a post-meal nap. It was so fun to see the adorable baby T65A6 poking her head out of the water and leaping next to her huge brother T65A2. Just recently, this baby was positively identified as a female! Very exciting news.
Finally, as we were about to head back to the harbor, we saw a bald eagle soaring overhead. What a wonderful way to end the day!
I can't wait for a wonderful summer full of spectacular wildlife!