[Sarah M. – 07/16/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 01:30pm]
The M/V Sea Lion set out on another magical day in the Salish Sea. We had calm waters, blue skies, and whale reports! As has became the norm this year, we had orcas reported in an unusual location and we ended up weaving through the inner islands towards Rosario Strait and the Pea Pod Islands.
We were lucky enough to encounter the T037Bs and T034s traveling with T037. We had a lovely time watching the whales as they hunted in shallow water around the small islets and the reefs. The group of females, juveniles, and calves travelled in a tight knit group. We loved watching the little baby orcas tucked right next to their mothers, and the juveniles starting to take more and more risks away from their mother. At one point, we had T037B1 by herself as her mother and others were a good 200 yards away. That’s not that far, but if you’re a young killer whale that’s pretty far!
We left the whales and cruised back towards Friday Harbor. On the way back to San Juan Island we had some great discussions related to killer whale physiology as well as on how to ID the individuals we spotted! Both Rachel and I really enjoyed our group of guests; we hope to see them again soon!