What a day, I don't even know where to begin on this blog! Today was one of those days (we seem to have those quite frequently) where you just couldn't look anywhere without seeing something cool! We had a whale "Trifecta" day where we saw a Minke Whale, Humpback Whale, and Orcas! It was incredible. We no sooner got done looking at our Humpback (which decided to surface literally three feet from our boat) and we had another whale to look at! I think our major problem today was deciding how long to spend with each whale!
These whales are all a very important part of the ecosystem dynamics and feed on different things. The baleen whales (Humpbacks and Minkes) feed on small schooling fish like Krill, San Lance and Herring while the Transient Orcas may feed on them. I was a little concerned for Mr.Minke when the Transient- mammal hunting- Orcas went right through the area that we were viewing the Minke whale from. It wasn't too long ago when a Minke whale was attacked and killed by a small group of Transient Orcas... However, it looks like both the Minke and Humpback will live to see another day; something I must admit I'm pretty happy about!
We had sunny skys, little wind, calm water and happy guests. We also saw lots of Steller Sea Lions, Porpoise, and Harbor Seals. With the close encounters both of our whale watching boats received from all three whales today, this day is going to be hard to beat!
Heather, Naturalist, M/V Sea Lion and Kittiwake
San Juan Safaris