We were lucky enough to leave the dock with reports of transient orca’s south of San Juan Island. We knew we were going to need to go a little further today than usual but the reports were still in our reach and we wanted to make sure we gave our guests the best trip we could in our power. As we headed down San Juan Channel past the Southern tip of San Juan Island we enjoyed the beautiful view of the surrounding Northern Cascade mountains as well as the Olympic mountains and the water was like glass out in the Strait of Juan De Fuca. When we reached the transient whales we observed them traveling West at a slow pace. We watched the relaxed whales for about 45 minutes and got some great looks of the whole family. We started motoring back towards San Juan Island when we were surprised with another whale report, a humpback whale in our direct line of travel! Just as we arrived on scene with the humpback whale we were greeted with the tail flukes of the whale as it went down on a dive. We watched the whale for a number of surfacing sequences, with a beautiful tail to end each string of breaths. We said goodbye to the humpback and slated for a Steller’s Sea Lion haul out. We reached the whale rocks where there were about 20 Steller’s sun bathing on the rocks. There was also an adult bald eagle perched at the top of the rocks as well. We had an excellent day out out on the water where our guests got their fill of wildlife, at least for today!
Photos taken by nautralist Lauren