What an exciting day on the water! For the afternoon and evening trip, we got to hang out with some pretty speedy transient orcas. The afternoon trip started out foggy but Caitlin, Captain Mike, and I had high spirits. We came upon the group of 4 transients south of San Juan Island and they were showing behaviors typical of a hunting pod. Their movements were swift and they spent a considerable amount of time submerged between breaths. Traveling northward toward Lopez Island, the whales moved in closer to shore where we got to see something amazing! A big patch of blood broiled to the surface, indicating a fresh kill! Although the prey was not confirmed, the naturalists guess that it was most likely a harbor seal. We informed our guests that while the more easily tracked Southern Resident Orcas dine primarily on Chinook salmon, the Transient populations in the area dine exclusively on marine mammals, with harbor seals constituting about 60% of their meals. Other sources of food for transients include the harbor porpoise, Dall's porpoise, the Stellar sea lion, and Minke whales, among other things. We followed the pod of 4 from Friday Harbor (they were practically waiting outside of the harbor to pick us up!) northward along the east side of San Juan Island, where they were engaging in a casual cruise along the coast. After spending a considerable amount of time with the largest species of dolphin in the world, Captain Mike steered us on a course for Spieden Island, the largest privately owned island in the San Juans. We saw the many Sika deer, fallow deer, and Mouflan sheep that were introduced to the island in the 1970s in an attempt to start a safari-style hunting attraction. Guests on both the afternoon and the evening trips were lucky enough to spot multiple immature and mature American bald eagles in addition to several nests! After saying goodnight to the transients, the Sea Lion headed for Friday Harbor while the guests disembarked with big smiles on their faces.
- Meg, Naturalist M/V Sea Lion