Jordan | August 21, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 trip
What a great day out on the water! Despite the fog and smoke that is still lingering around the San Juan Islands, we had a great day cruising around the Salish Sea.
We headed south down through the San Juan Channel and stopped by Whale Rocks to check out some Steller sea lions! These animals are HUGE and yet seem super elegant in the water…until they crawl up on land and lumber and roll around. We also saw some harbor seals that are comparably smaller than the sea lions. The seals are even more clumsy as they flopped around the island.
We even spotted a bald eagle up in a nearby dead tree! It perched perfectly as the three-foot creature balanced precariously and overlooked our boat as we passed by.
Then we headed toward Canadian waters in search for whales! As we neared Victoria off the south coast of Vancouver Island, we found a couple of humpback whales! The two massive whales swam pretty close to our boat and showed us their tails as they took turns taking deep dives. One of the whales had a tail with large white spots and the other whale had a tail of complete blackness. They kept popping up sporadically all around our boat, turning us in circles as they searched for food.
It was really amazing to see these amazing animals but eventually we had to head back home to Friday Harbor, content with the day’s findings.