[Sarah – 04/20/2018 – M/V Sea Lion – 12:00pm]
Friday's whale and wildlife tour was OFF THE HOOK! We saw a little bit of everything!
We started the day by heading north out of Friday Harbor towards Spieden Island. Before even reaching its grassy slopes and rocky shores, we encountered harbor porpoise and Steller’s sea lions feeding in the rich upwelling water. We checked out some sea lions hauled out Green Point before heading across the island to see what we could find. There were bald eagles galore: swooping through the perfect blue skies, feeding on the rocks, and vocalizing in trees! We even caught glimpses of Spieden’s famous non-native residents moufalon sheep, fallow deer, and sika deer.
We elected to press north into Boundary Pass, where we encountered a humpback whale! I love these gentle giants, and it was my first encounter of the season! Humpbacks are extraordinarily migratory, participating in one of the longest mammalian migrations in the animal kingdom. Every winter the whales from the North Pacific head south to either Hawai’i or Mexico for their calving and breeding season. It’s always a bit of a guessing game as to when they’ll show up back here in the San Juans, but they have arrived in force within the last week!
Enjoy some photos from the beautiful day on the water!
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