Saturday morning started a little rainy, and windy with no reports of whales. Naturalists Chelsea and Caitlin were a little concerned as we were leaving Friday Harbor. But soon after leaving we got a radio call from some whale watching boats that were out earlier and there were some transients in Rosario Strait heading toward Decatur Island! Hurray! We haven't seen transients in quite some time so we were excited. Transients killer whales are the ecotype that feed mainly on marine mammals. Here in the Salish Sea they eat harbor seals and harbor porpoises. As we made it out to the group it stopped raining and the sun came out, and the whales were on a hunt. They were swimming quickly and making rapid dives in one specific area. Most of the time the whales will just hold their prey beneath the surface until it drowns.
It was awesome to have the whales so active at the surface. It was a decent size group of 7, which is bigger than the average pod of transients. All in all it was a great encounter and the sun made the afternoon trip even sweeter. Hope the action continues with the evening trip!
Naturalist Chelsea
M/V Sea Lion
San Juan Safaris