Jordan | July 8, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00 & 2:00 trips
For both trips today, Captain Gabe and I hopped on the Kestrel and booked it up north to find some whales!
On our first trip, the whales were far northwest within the Strait of Georgia so we boated as fast as possible towards that direction. Along the way, we found a huge pod of harbor porpoises! There were about fifty porpoises all around our boat! This rarely happens so it was great to witness. Once we reached the far depths of the Strait of Georgia, we found two transient pods of whales together! They seemed to be really excited about something because a few of the whales kept jumping up out of the water, diving between the waves. It was very exciting to watch these giant animals flying through the air! It’s hard to imagine how they could propel their massive bodies entirely out of the sea. It reminds us how powerful these marine mammals are.
On our second trip, we took a scenic detour through Spieden Channel to look at some mouflon sheep along the shoreline, then up through John’s Pass to check out some harbor seals and bald eagles. Finally, we reached Patos Island where we found the same group of orca whales! They had traveled so far from where we saw them this morning! The whales were so picturesque as they swam right next to the lighthouse with Mt. Baker in the background! Then suddenly, the whales found a seal! And the large group of whales thrashed in the water, encircling one specific area off the Patos shore. They seemed to get really excited afterwards as they spyhopped, jumped around, and showed us their tails!
What a wonderful day full of beautiful wildlife.