Jordan | July 7, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 & 5:30 trips
Captain Gabe, naturalist Rachel and I received reports of the T124As up in Canada! So, on both our trips today we boated up into international waters to see the whales.
On our first trip, we went up to Canada and found the killer whales off of a tiny island called Blunden, near the south point of south Pender Island. We followed them around Blunden and up the channel along the east side of Saturna Island. The four transient whales took long dives, staying under water for a few minutes at a time, so it became a guessing game of where they'd pop up next! Our guests got super excited when they surfaced and we could see the tiny baby whale traveling with them! He would keep throwing his head up out of the water as he was breathing. We got a good look at his slight orange tinge to his white patches. Over time his blubber will thicken and those spots will turn white just like his mom!
On our second trip, we traveled up the east side of Saturna Island and found them off of Tumbo Island! This enthusiastic crowd was overjoyed when the whales disappeared for a few minutes and then surfaced right next to our boat! We got great up-close looks at this pod and even heard them breathing! In fact, when we first found them, they were all asleep, traveling close together, moving very slowly and surfacing all at once. It was amazing to think that the whale’s brains were only half turned on as we were watching them, still diving while they were sleeping in the water!
On both our trips as we headed back to harbor we saw some great glimpses of bald eagles! We saw some juveniles with their brown, speckled heads and a few pairs of bald eagles guarding nests hidden in the trees. We also saw a bunch of seals swimming within the water and playing as baby seals kept warm up on the rocks.
What a great day full of wildlife for San Juan Safaris!