Today we left Friday Harbor with reports of transient orcas near Victoria, BC. We headed West and traveled for a distance until we met the transients a little ways past Race Rocks. We were lucky enough to see T18 and her family heading out towards the open pacific ocean. After looking at the transient family for a while we went looking for a humpback nearby which we ended up getting a great look at. Orcas, which are toothed cetaceans, live in family groups called pods in comparison to humpback whales, a type of baleen cetacean, which are generally solitary. After seeing the humpback surface a few times we headed back towards Friday Harbor. On our trip back we came across a Minke Whale, another type of baleen cetacean, making a trifecta of our whale watching trip! We stopped by whale rocks on our way back to the dock and watch a group of curious and playful Stellar sea lions socializing in the water. Also on whale rocks, we saw a pair of bald eagles feeding on a salmon that they had caught. We had an absolutely amazing day for wildlife viewing and hope that our guests enjoyed the trip as much as the rest of us did!
Naturalist Rachel
M/V Sea Lion, San Juan Safaris