Today was sunny and beautiful for a whale watch. Captain Jim, Captain Chris, and myself departed with a full boat on the Kittiwake and made our way down and around San Juan Island. We experienced some strong currents going through cattle pass due to the summer solstice and full moon being so close together, but it made for a fun boat ride! We got to Eagle Point and spotted a mother (L77-Matia) and her calf (L119). Captain Jim put our boat into position for some great viewing and right after doing so Matia and her daughter moved right past the stern of our boat. Shortly after L-41, Mega, passed right off of our bow. Mega is the oldest male is our Southern Resident Community at 36 years old. It was really spectacular to see this little family group swim together because Mega and Matia are siblings. Our guests were watching this group swim around and all of a sudden we spotted a Minke whale. This Minke was fun to watch because we would spot it right behind the orcas. We have never seen a Minke do this before and it was such an awesome sight to see. After spending a majority of our time with the Orcas we started to head back to Friday Harbor and along the way we stopped at Long Island to see the nesting pair of Bald Eagles. These Bald Eagles were very easy to spot because of the Evergreen Trees providing a great background for their white heads to pop out! After a great day out on the water we made it back to Friday Harbor with a very excited group of passengers!
Aimee,Naturalist, M/V Sea Lion
San Juan Safaris