[Naturalist Sarah – 09/30/2017 – M/V Kestrel – 02:00pm]
Saturday was a beautiful illustration of the varying weather conditions we can experience here in the Pacific Northwest. On M/V Kestrel, wearing Mustang Survival Suits, we keep you prepared for the huge swings in weather conditions we can receive in the Fall and Spring! As we prepared to leave, we experience a deluge of rain, which weakened into a slight on and off drizzle as the trip progressed.
Heading south from Friday Harbor we buzzed out through Cattle Pass and into Haro Strait. We had fairly smooth conditions as we crossed the variable waterway towards Canadian waters and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Earlier in the day another Pacific Whale Watch Association company had reported that there were a couple groups of transient killer whales traveling the Strait. We caught up with the families of orcas under stunning light and intermittent rain. Perhaps the highlight of the day was catching a glimpse of the huge male T087, who is not a common individual in our area. Traveling with the big male were the T060s and T100Bs. While we watched the whales, we saw several direction changes and were even treated to a couple of spyhops!
On our way back towards the San Juan Islands, we saw a few groups of porpoise, awesome sea birds, and stopped to take in the views of some Steller’s sea lions. By the end of the trip we were under sunny skies and had a rainbow cutting across the sky!
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