You never can tell how a day will turn out. Even ones that seem to have the least number of prospects can turn out to be the most exciting. As was the case yesterday. With Capt. Craig driving the M/V Sea Lion, Capt. Jeff motoring along in the M/V Kittiwake and Nancy, Lauren and me crewing, we headed off on a northern wildlife tour. As we neared Spieden Island though our plans changed drastically with the receipt of a report of transient orcas outside of Victoria Harbor. Away we flew towards Canada and some black-and-whites.
The day was calm and the slack tide made the trip across Haro Strait lovely. 30 miles later, and nearly to Race Rocks, we saw those beautiful orcas. As we cruised along I was able to identify the male as T103, which was then confirmed by one of the other boats. The female that was traveling with him remained a mystery, but they made a majestic pair. They slowly swam west seemingly without a care in the world, affording all of the guests a chance to make memories of a lifetime.
Finally it was time to head back and what a different trip that was. Gone were the nice calm waters of our trip over. The tide had changed and the flooding tide, along with some wind, turned the Strait of Juan de Fuca into a rodeo. With 3-4 foot seas, we were rocking and rolling all of the way through Cattle Pass. The guests were having a ball though laughing as they got blasted by waves and watched the M/V Kittiwake bounce along behind us. Through the skill of our captains we made it back with all on board and in time to catch the 4:15 p.m. ferry to Anacortes.
So, another successful whale watching trip was logged by San Juan Safaris. Thank you to all of our fearless guests, captains and crew, and we will...
See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©
San Juan Island near Seattle: Home to the Southern Resident Killer Whales