Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 04/10/2021 |1:00pm
It was such a beautiful day so both Captain Pete and I were very eager to get out on the water. As soon as our guests jumped on our boat we set off to adventure around the islands.
We headed north towards Shaw and Lopez Island as we boated through Upright Channel and around the northern point of Lopez. As we rounded the corner, we spotted something bursting from the water…dorsal fins!! The kids were the first to spot the orcas and they were ecstatic.
As we slowed our vessel, we were able to quietly watch two majestic orcas swimming and exploring the shoreline. One was a massive male whale with a 6-foot-tall dorsal fin. The other was smaller and may have been a younger male or a female. On closer inspection through binoculars, we spotted little notches missing from the big dorsal fin. With this information, we were able to identify him as T77A! This whale is known for being a lone male who does not travel with a specific pod. The smaller dorsal fin had a very subtle notch at the tip letting us know that it was T49A2. This whale is often with his family but is known for wandering off and exploring on his own.
It was very fun to see these two whales interacting with each other! They seemed to be acting like two teenage boys just looking for trouble as they searched the coastline for a meal.
After admiring these beautiful whales for a good amount of time, we set off to look for other wildlife. We boated towards Spieden Island and watched a big group of Steller sea lions!
But, then we noticed something odd. A bald eagle…and then another…and another and another!! Suddenly there were swarms of gigantic raptors flying in the air, perching in trees, sitting on the hillsides and the rocks! Then we spotted the source of the commotion… a massive carcass was resting at the bottom of a small cliff amongst the rocks. It looked as if a sheep had slipped and fallen. The eagles were fighting each other to get the best of the meat! I’ve literally never seen anything like that before!
We continued on and found some harbor seals and another eagle watching from a distance! The harbor seals lounged around with no care in the world as we said goodbye and finally headed back home.
Throughout this whole trip, all the kids on board were so sweet. They asked such great questions and I really appreciated their love and passion for all the animals we saw. Thank you for being awesome humans!
What a fantastic adventure!