It was a beautiful day out on the water today with clear views of Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, the Olympics and the Cascades! Myself, Caitlin, and Captain Mike were eager to see some wildlife and so were the guests. Heading southward, we got an awesome viewing of several hauled out Harbor Seals on Turn Rock! We made our way around the south end of the island past scenic Cattle Point continued northward along the west side. Here, we were lucky enough to spot 3 members of L-Pod!! It was Spirit L-22 and her two sons Solstice L-89 and Skana L-79. Our guests got several great views of these 3 resident orcas, who spent quite a long time surfacing and milling about.
A couple guests asked the question, "So are there any animals above killer whales on the food chain?" I told them that in fact, other than humans, orca whales maintain the spot as top predator on the marine food chain. Aside from the 2 most commonly seen ecotypes of orcas here in the Salish Sea (Southern Residents which eat mainly Chinook Salmon and Transients with eat marine mammals) there is another ecotype called an Offshore Orca whose diet consists mainly of sharks. All in all, we and our guests thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon trip with whales, seals, and beautiful weather!
Meg - Naturalist, M/V Sea Lion