Another great day on the west side of San Juan Island! To start the trip off right we almost immediately spotted a bald eagle perched on Turn Island. This must have been a good omen because today's trip was spectacular. Little did we know it at the time, but there were about 20 orcas on the west side. We traveled towards False Bay, stopping to watch the Steller's sea lions on Whale Rocks. They were roaring loud today! Our crew was so entertained with these charismatic creatures that we could have stayed there all day!
The whales were widely spread out along the west side. We identified L87, L88, and L2. We turned off the boat and watched the whales swim by in every direction. After lowering the hydrophone, we heard a large variety of squeals and squeaks. It was hard not to be completely entranced by the orcas. Although it was raining, our enthusiastic guests were practically begging us to stay longer. With word from the other whale watching boats, there were more orcas headed our direction. We stayed put and watched as about 15 more orcas appeared across the smooth waters. Apparently the K pod was near because we identified K21 "Cappuccino". On our way back to Friday Harbor, we saw Dall's porpoise playing in the wake of our boat. Rain shmain, today was a WOW kind of day.
Naturalist,
Sally