7/3/17 - Sea Lion 1:30 & 5:30 PM Departure
Our pre-fourth of July celebration was exceptional! The T49A’s hanging out Northwest of San Juan Island. The T49A’s are made up of four whales, the matriarch and her three offspring. We were lucky enough to see the whales feeding on both our afternoon and sunset tour. The whales seemed rather relaxed throughout the day while continuing to feed, on what we would assume to be harbor seals. Harbor seals make up about 60% of the diet of transients whales in the area and since our harbor seal population is at carrying capacity, that is most likely what they are going to be eating. Thankfully the whales were not far from Friday Harbor so we got ample time to watch them feeding and socializing. We never know where the whales are going to be, every day is different, but today we got lucky with the whales being closer to our dock. We were so lucky we even got to see a couple spy hops on our evening trip! Transient whales usually engage in social behavior once they are done feeding or have just completed a kill. Transient whales are also very stealthy and usually travel in silence while they are hunting, in comparison to when they complete a kill when they are usually vocalizing. We also got to see a variety of other wildlife in our trips including bald eagles, harbor seals, and harbor porpoise. Our guests today had some great questions during our trip which truly adds to their experience out on the water. We had a wonderful well-rounded trip with a great early fourth of July celebration for our guests.
