Jordan | June 29, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 sunset trip
What a lovely sunset tour today! Captain Mike and I set out at 5:30 from Friday Harbor with a fairly decent idea of where we could find orcas!
We received reports of a transient whale pod up in West Sound, so we headed north through the San Juan Channel towards those waters. However, as soon as we grew closer, the whales took off in the opposite direction! Luckily, we were able to catch up and we met the whales in the Upright Channel not too far away. This family of whales turned out to be the T124As! The pod was fun to watch as they elegantly glided through the water with the setting sun sparkling in the background. The two little baby whales were a bit less elegant as they endearingly popped up and down next to their mother.
We then headed down the Upright Channel and continued south towards Whale Rocks where we found Steller sealions! We witnessed one giant male swimming back and forth along the small island while continuously jumping onto the rock to bark at the smaller sea lions!
Suddenly, Captain Mike spotted something! It wasn’t quite a seal, definitely wasn’t a sea lion…it was an otter! We rarely see sea otters in the San Juan islands so it was so great to find this little guy swimming amongst the kelp. He was so adorable and so small compared to the giant sea lions right next to him!
Then we headed back north, passing by a pair of bald eagles perched high in a dead tree. And guess who we found again in the San Juan Channel?? Our orca pod! We watched them until we needed to head home, with hearts full of satisfaction.