[Naturalist Sarah – 10/08/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 12:00pm]
Today’s whale watch was a picture perfect October day, and certainly not a typical what-to-expect day this time of year. Captain Mike, Naturalist Piper, and I left Friday Harbor under sunny blue skies with no reports of whales. We elected to head south through San Juan Channel towards Whale Rocks to see what we could find in the wide-open waters south of San Juan Island.
Sea Lions
At Whale Rocks we had the opportunity to view a seasonal colony of Steller’s sea lions. These huge pinnipeds are migratory, spending their summers North in Alaska for their breeding season. Here in the San Juans, we expect to see Steller’s sea lions September through May. We got amazing looks at sea lions hauled out on the rocks as well as in the water.
While we were watching the sea lions a report came in from further south: orcas! We work with all of the other boats out on the water to give us the best chance of seeing whales. As soon as one boat sees whales, we all hear about it via a closed radio system! Today that system was hugely beneficial!
Killer Whales
We made our way out to the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca where we encountered Bigg’s killer whales travelling west. These whales are marine mammal eaters, favoring harbor seals in our inland waters. By looking at the whales’ unique dorsal fins and saddlepatch markings we found that we had the T046B matriline traveling with an individual known as U039. As far as I can tell, this individual was last reported in our area in June of 2015. This “U” designation has been assigned to whales who are considered Unknowns, or having unassigned populations. This could mean that these individuals typically spend more time further offshore, or further North or South, and periodically visit this area. This was the first time that I had ever seen this individual… I was very excited to see this very rare whale!
On our way back towards Friday Harbor we got a chance to see bald eagles, harbor seals, and several species of sea birds. It was spectacular day on the water; enjoy some photos from today’s trip!
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