Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 07/12/19 | 3:00pm
Today was such a good day! As Captain Pete and I set out of Friday Harbor, we headed south towards potential sightings of something cool near the Olympic Peninsula.
We headed south down through the San Juan Channel, passed Cattle Point and across the Strait of Juan De Fuca! Miles away from home, we spotted a couple boats in the distance. Then our orcas! Yay! Upon looking at the unique dorsal fin patterns and shapes and scratches, we identified them as the T65As! This is one of my favorite transient pods in the whole Salish Sea!
It was so amazing to watch them as the mom led her 5 babies across the huge glassy body of water. The tiny one year old baby hopped up and down by her side as they swam gracefully. The massive son, T65A2, pierced the water with his towering dorsal fin.
Everyone had a great time snapping pictures as the sun sank lower in the sky and made everything look like a painting.
Eventually we headed back towards San Juan and stopped by Whale Rocks where we found a bunch of seals! These harbor seals reminded us all of our puppy dogs at home! So cute!
We also spotted a juvenile bald eagle literally walking around the island, potentially looking for scraps of fish or anything else nearby to scavenge.
We stopped by Long Island and checked out this enormous eagle’s nest sitting up in the tree. So cool.
Finally, we headed back to the harbor but such a lovely trip!
We had a really great group of people on board so thank you guys for all the amazing questions!