With one short of a full boat and some sunshine peeking through the intermittent clouds, we took the Sea Lion up north towards Canadian waters in search of some Pacific northwest wildlife. Just outside the harbor as we were coming around the corner, a passenger spotted a bald eagle perched high in the top of a pine tree: conveniently photogenic.
Our luck kept rolling in as we soon found a large pod of orcas who turned out to be J-pod! Rather than traveling at a quick pace, they were spread out and swimming in smaller groups towards the east. With passengers' photos, we were able to identify two males--Mike and Blackberry--and a female, Spieden. We saw the whales breaching and even a spy-hop from one particularly curious individual. While we were out with the whales, we learned that a research group had just placed a suction-cup tag on the male J-30, Riptide and were hoping to put a tag on a second whale.
On our way back to town, we took a slight detour past the islands of Spieden and Sentinel and found six harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, two river otters making their way back into the cold ocean waters, and a bald eagle sitting on its large twig-based nest. Further along Spieden Island, we saw the nonnative (but still interesting and amusing) Mouflon sheep and Sika and Fallow deer grazing on the waving grasses bent by the cool ocean breeze.
Nearly everything we saw today prefer to each fish, making them piscivores; from the salmon-loving J-pod to the trout-eating bald eagles and even the rockfish-munching harbor seals.
Serena, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris