Jordan | July 22, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 trip
Today was one of the warmest days of the summer which made the trip all the more enjoyable as the cool sea air made our boat perfectly pleasant. Captain Gabe and I heard reports of whales toward the north end of San Juan Island heading south through the Haro Strait.
So, we set out south down the San Juan Channel and through Cattle Pass, past Cattle Point lighthouse and up the west side of San Juan Island. But, before we reached the whales, they started to head west towards Vancouver Island.
Finally, we reached the whales and it was fantastic. It turned out that we found three groups of transient (Bigg’s) orca whales traveling together: T34s, T34Bs and the T47s. We were watching them traveling along close to the island when all of a sudden all of the whales focused in on one specific spot in the water, swimming around in circles.
Some of the whales were twirling their tails in the air and thrashing about the surface. They were hunting down a seal! Of course, this was just a hypothesis until BOOM, a seal goes flying through the air! It was amazing! It was so chaotic as the whales wrestled around on top of each other and then the seal went flying again! Afterwards it was clear the whales were really excited as we saw a few breaches and tail slaps and we even saw a whale moonwalk as they shared their food. Orca whales always make sure everyone in the family has a piece of food and everyone is taken care of.
The whole display really made us all appreciate the circle of life while seeing these great predators at work. As we returned home to Friday Harbor after a long day, happiness filled our hearts.