Saturday, March 24th | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 PM
Under today’s blue skies the M/V Sea Lion took to the Salish Sea with Captain Mike, naturalist Erick, myself, and a boat full of enthusiastic visitors! We pointed our sights north in search of whales and wildlife and soon found ourselves at Green Point on Spieden Island watching a raft of Steller’s sea lions frolic in the currents. These giants must have thought the M/V Sea Lion was one of them because as we floated there we were treated with an up-close view of a Steller floating on his back, gazing up at us as he breathed, before twirling around and disappearing under the emerald green of the Salish Sea. Looking up from the water to the cliffs we spotted a herd of Mouflon Sheep grazing on the grassy southern face of Spieden, thriving in a world so far from their home in the Middle East.
We continued our search as we scanned the water between Spieden and Johns Islands and found a large group of harbor seals engaged in what looked like a very important, very secret meeting, probably to discuss Bigg’s orca evasion maneuvers… A mated pair of bald eagles watched over a mated pair of Canada geese and the M/V Sea Lion chugged on.
Northward again into Boundary Pass, we arrived on the southern face of Saturna Island and we watched as the island’s feral goats gracefully balanced along sheer cliffs dotted with bald eagles. At the eastern tip of Saturna lies Boiling Reef which is ripe with Steller’s sea lions this time of year. Get downwind of these guys and ripe is definitely the right word to use!
Looping back around the border and into US waters we spotted a giant birdnado swirling over an underwater bait ball. Countless seasonal and year-round seabirds feasted on small fish from above as a hidden predator lurked below, forcing the fish to the surface.
We finished off today’s beautiful tour by attempting to sneak up on some shy harbor porpoises as they zipped across the horizon! Just another day in the best office in the world.