Erick | Tuesday, May 21, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00
Tuesday was another beautiful day out here in the archipelago. We headed out of Friday Harbor and turned north. We headed towards Spieden Island. Just around Yellow Island we saw a Minke Whale! These are smaller baleen whales that inhabitat the Salish Sea. They are around 30 feet long and are usually difficult ot watch but today was so calm it was easy to see this one. Minke Whales, also unusually, seem to stick to the same areas and we have seen this particular one in this area for at least a few years. We watched and ended up smelling this way for a few minutes as it swam around and fed, and then continued on our way north. We went towards Sandy Point on Waldron Island and saw a ton of Harbor Porpoises feeding in the tidal rip of the point we continued up north towards Boundary Pass and saw a Humpback Whale! It was following the Saturna Island shoreline and eating as it went along towards East Point. This Humpback Whale was Windy! or MMY0006! We saw this whale the day before also in this area. It was so cool to see it travel, feed, and fluke up showing its massive tail above the water. This is how we identify each individual in the population. We watched this whael for a while and as it also got to ride the current around East Point. It was so cool to see the current push a around 40 ton whale! After watching we took a stop by the point to see all the Steller Sea Lions growling and there was even a California Sea Lion! What another amazing day and so many incredible animals! Until next time.
Erick
