Summer seems to have left the islands as quickly as it arrived, but the animals are still around! We headed out in to Haro Strait this afternoon and came across a group of Transient Orca. The Residents haven't been seen in a day or two, but the Transients were a great encounter. The mature male of the group had a huge dorsal fin which gave our passengers a very big target to photograph.
On the way home we added another cetacean to our check list when we came across a nice group of Dall's Porpoise. They weren't too interested in the boat but just slowly meandered along as we got a few good looks. After leaving the Dall's we encountered a large bird ball that gave us high hopes for finding a Minke Whale. Sure enough after a few patient minutes we had one surface a few times near the group of birds.
To end the day we stopped at Whale Rocks to get some looks at the large Steller Sea Lions both on the rocks and in the water, as well as harbor seals. Finally a few harbor porpoise popped up long enough for everyone to see as we were all looking at a Bald Eagle perched on Lopez!
Mike
Naturalist - San Juan Safaris