(6/29/17 - Sea Lion 1:30 PM Departure)
You couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to be out on the water here in the San Juan’s. We left the dock with reports of Southern Resident Killer Whales on the south side of San Juan Island, near False Bay. We headed straight toward that report of whales and decided to look for other wildlife on the way back. After a nice leisurely ride we made it to the whales. Our guests were very enthusiastic about seeing the whales and getting their first looks. Once we got into good viewing position we traveled with the whales as they headed North up the West side of San Juan Island. We watched the J19’s as well as the K14’s as they traveled tightly together at a slow pace. It is always a beautiful sight to see a whole family swimming and surfacing closely together. We continued watching the family as our guests enjoyed learning about these animals, they also had great questions to get as much out of their experience as possible. We decided it was time to bid the whales farewell and go look for other wildlife on our way back towards the dock. We were lucky enough to see a bald eagle pair and one individual was even feeding on a fish it had caught or scavenged. It was amazing watching the bird use its huge talons to hold the fish in place. We also saw some harbor seals hauled out at whale rocks. There were no visible pups on the rocks but it is early pupping season so we’re encouraging our guests to keep an eye out for them. All in all it was a great summer day out on the water!
