It was a drizzly morning here in Friday Harbor, but we definitely needed that rain and by the time the afternoon rolled around the sun was peaking out again. Capt. Jim, 9 guests, and I all left the harbor on the Kittiwake with reports of Southern Resident Killer Whales heading south along the southern tip of San Juan Island. Never ever has there been a calmer day that I can remember on the Salish Sea especially when we got onto the west side - smooth as glass. On the way to meet up with the orcas we stopped at looked at a group of Harbor Seals sunning on some exposed rocks. Two seal pups - oh yeah it's pupping season so there are a ton of these little cuties - offered us a great view of the different coloration of our two morphs of Harbor Seals in the Salish Sea. There is a darker morph and a lighter morph. They are the same species they are just two distinct fur colorations. These folks are a key linchpin in the food chain between between fish and squid and Transient Orcas that eat marine mammals. Seals consist of 70% of their diet! But, back to the Southern Residents. After we passed Cattle Point we headed a little north to Eagle Cove. There they were a mother with a tiny calf drafting right off her port side. Well I mean tiny is relative, the calf is probably my size and definitely weighs more. Then the rest of the family group caught up. It was the J-16s! My favorite family is in J pod and is the family group led by J-16 (Slick). There is also Mike, Echo, and Alki and... and... two new calves! We got to see all of them as the spread out heading south looking for salmon. Mike (J-26) is really big one of the biggest males I've ever seen and you can definitely tell when you see his enormous dorsal fin slowly rise from the depths. We were so lucky that J pod was so close because we got to stay and move around to see most of J pod for almost an hour and a half as they grouped up, spread out, spyhopped, and Mike gave us a big breach at the end as a farewell, cue more Michael Jackson music. Until next time from the sunny San Juans Capt. Jim and Erick are out.
Naturalist Erick
M/V Kittiwake, San Juan Safaris