Whale Watching Report

Elusive minke

Today we had a beautiful day on the water! We found a minke whale who was pretty shy. We found a plethora of other wildlife though: Steller sea lions, California sea lions, harbor porpoise and harbor seals. Our trip began with a California sea lion hauled out on the Guemes Channel marker. He poked his head up to check us out, then continued with his nap. We went south down Rosario Strait and found a lot of harbor porpoise swimming in the current lines. On Boulder Island, a mature bald eagle was perched on a tree. There were also a few harbor seals swimming off the island. At the south end of Lopez Island we did a slow down where we found some turkey vultures flying high above the boat. A lone harbor seal was hauled out on the rocks. We pushed further offshore in the Strsit of Juan de Fuca. On Salmon Bank, Captain Carl found us a minke whale! Our minke only showed himself two more times before he completely disappeared! We searched and searched trying to find him. He didn't want to play. We went to Whale Rocks where several Steller sea lions were hauled out. There were two that were having a standoff, growling at each other. We headed back out to see if we could find our minke or another whale. We searched as we took a big turn off McArthur Bank. In Rosario Strait, there were a lot of harbor porpoise and some bird action, but no whales. We found a minke today, but he wasn't as cooperative as we would have liked him to be. All of our passengers get to come back with us, for free trip to experience more wildlife. It truly was an amazing day full of wildlife and sunshine!

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 5:13 PM   0 Comments

Mother's Day Minke Whales

We found four minke whales today and lots of other wildlife on top of that. We started out with a California sea lion in Guemes Channel. Rosario Strait was full of harbor porpoises,and we must have seen hundreds of them scattered about. Later off Lopez Island we found a bald eagle harassing a big flock of gulls feeding at a bait ball. The eagle made four attempts to steal food from one of the gulls, and he got very close at times, but the gull never surrendered his meal. Afterward we headed to Eastern Bank and found a minke whale feeding near a big flock of gulls. This was a very cooperative minke whale that spent lots of time near the surface. On one occasion he sent all the gulls bursting into the air when he sliced through the bait ball they were feeding on. Captain Carl spotted another minke whale and so we cruised over to look at this one too. After departing the whales we visited Minor Island where we found about 100 harbor seals, a couple of bald eagles, and big flocks of caspian terns,and double-crested cormorants. Soon after that we spotted two more minke whales and visited with them for a while before it was time to head back to the dock. The calm water and a multitude of wildlife helped make this trip special for all our passengers celebrating Mother's Day with us. Naturalist Bart Rulon.

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 4:27 PM   0 Comments

Minke whales

Today's trip took us south in search of whales. Our wildlife viewing started in Guemes Channel when we spotted two bald eagles flying overhead. Later we stopped at Williamson Rocks to look at harbor seals,cormorants and pigeon guillemots. Next we headed south past Lopez Islands searching for whales. Today one of our passengers spotted our first whale. It was a big minke whale and he was swimming in a circular pattern. Eventually we spotted a second minke whale nearby. Next we headed out toward the Olympic Peninsula in search for more whales, but a nuclear submarine was coming out with several escorts so we had to avoid the area we wanted to be searching in. On our way back we found a bunch of actively feeding harbor porpoises and harbor seals in Rosario Strait. The harbor porpoises were very entertaining today and we had them surrounding the boat at times. Then just before we reached the dock we saw a California sea lion on one of the Guemes channel markers. Naturalist Bart Rulon.

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 5:59 PM   0 Comments

Sunshine and at least 4 minke whales!

What a beautiful day! We spent our time in the Strait of Juan de Fuca with at least 4 minke whales! Our trip began with a California sea lion hauled out on the shady of the channel marker. We made our way out in to Rosario Strait where we found harbor porpoise swimming in the current lines. We did a slow down through the south end of Lopez Island and Castle Rock. There was a Canada goose perched on a rock, possibly sitting on some eggs. There were also a few turkey vultures flying overhead too. We stopped by Swirl Rock where there were multiple seals hauled out and a mature bald eagle. It was quite a picturesque sight. We pushed south in search of animals. We had a sighting of a minke whale at Salmon Bank, but he didn't want to play. We continued south and made our way toward hein Bank. We found our first minke whale of the day! He was booking it to the west! We had a couple of good looks at him, until he disappeared. We moved on in search of more whales. We saw a Steller sea lion at the northern marker of Hein Bank. He was posing pretty for us! We found at least three other minkes at Hein Bank. They were swimming in circles and being pretty elusive. But they came right over to the boat a few times! We actually heard the exhalation of the biggest minke, as he surfaced right off of the bow! They kept us guessing at their direction, hopefully they were finding some good food in the area!we spent some nice quality time floating amongst the minkes before we headed off. With one more look at the Steller hauled out on the navigation marker, we headed north toward homeport. At Burrows Island, we had two mature bald eagles perched high in the trees and harbor seals hauled out on the rocks! The harbor porpoise were loving the currents off the island! It was a sun-filled day on the water!

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 5:15 PM   1 Comments

Sunshine and wildlife!

Today was a beautiful day full of sunshine on the boat! We encountered a lot of wildlife! Our trip began with a California sea lion hauled out on the Guemes Channel marker. He was lounging in the sun. We turned north to search for whales. We tried to cover as much ground as we could on the search. There were a lot of harbor porpoise swimming in Rosario Strait. We made our way up to Peapod Rock and found a mature bald eagle perched on the rocks above a bunch of harbor seals. On the north Peapod, we saw a few more bald eagles and a couple of turkey vultures soaring over the rocks. Captain Michael got the call that another boat had found the whales, so we made our way in that direction. We went inner islands toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As we made our way south, the waves kept getting bigger and bigger. We made our way to Cattle Pass where Captain Michael made the best decision for all of our customers, we turned around and headed back north to try to find some other whales in the area. The water conditions were deteriorating the further south we went. The waves kept building and the boats that had the whales eventually lost them in the rough waters. We went through Obstruction Pass and continued over toward Lummi Island. On the Buckeye Shoal marker, we found another California sea lion hauled out. We turned south along the backside of Guemes Island on our way home. We found another mature bald eagle perched in it's nest on Jack Island. Throughout the day, we also saw pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, cormorants and Brandt geese. Even though the whales were in extremely rough water today, we had a wonderful trip in the sunshine. It was one of those rare days that we didn't see the whales, so all of our customers get to come back out with us, for free, until they see a whale!

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 8:41 PM   2 Comments

Killer whale update

The forecast for Wednesday looks good and this morning we got a report of Killer Whales on the west side of San Juan Island, heading north. This is great news and we are looking forward to tomorrow's trip!!!

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 10:54 AM   0 Comments

A humpback and five minke whales!!

Today was the first day of the season that we found a humpback and a minke whale! Two new species to check off for the season! Our day started under blue skies and calm waters! We found a great blue heron standing on the shoreline. We headed down Guemes Channel and we found a lot of harbor porpoise swimming in the current lines. We made our way south down Rosario Strait where we found a humpback whale! It was the first humpback of the season. He was swimming down the north western side of Whidbey Island. He maintained a rhythmic breathing sequence, showing us his fluke on many occasions! He popped up close giving us great looks and also a pretty good stinky smell... Humpback breath! It was an amazing encounter with this juvenile humpback! After a while, we headed off toward Eastern Bank to see what else we could find. We ended up finding not one, but four minke whales feeding in the shallow waters of Eastern Bank! They came right up giving us some great looks at their sleek bodies! The guests concurred that the minke whales' breath was definitely worse than the humpback's breath! We spent some time with our minke friends before heading toward homeport. On our way, another minke popped up right next to the boat! We stopped and watched him for a few breaths before we continued north. We saw Brandt geese, red-necked phalaropes, pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets and cormorants. We did a beautiful slow down through the south end of Lopez Island and Castle Rock. We found a mature bald eagle perched on Lopez Island. On our way home, we saw more harbor porpoise. It was such a wonderfully gorgeous day out on the water!

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 5:08 PM   0 Comments

Transients in the inner islands!

Today we spent time with a group of about eight transients including T002C, T002C1, T002C2, T002C3 (less than a year old), T019, T019B and T019C. It was a great day on the water! Our trip began with a harbor seal swimming in Guemes Channel. We pushed west and made our way toward Rosario Strait where we saw some harbor porpoise swimming in the current lines. Our trip took us through the inner islands. We went down Upright Channel and took a right into San Juan Channel where we met up with a group of transient orcas! As we got on scene, they started becoming more active! It looked like they woke up from their naps and long downtimes! A mature bald eagle also soared off the side of our boat! The orcas were very playful! We watched them roll over each other, tail lob, spyhop, lunge and cartwheel! We saw more than one orca belly today! They were enjoying the sunshine just as much as we were! After some amazing looks, we headed toward Spieden Island. Swimming off the southern tip of Spieden, Captain Carl found us two Steller sea lions! There were three Canada Geese waddling on the island as well. We made our way to the north side where we were treated to some looks at the mouflon sheep that call Spieden Island their home! By the timewe turned to the south, the orcas were still headed I our direction. We continued watching them as they continued north toward Canada. Eventually, we had to turn to head home, but we weren't done watching wildlife! We saw some harbor seals hauled out on some rocks off of Bell Island. Mt. Baker even decided to make an appearance! We found another bald eagle perched on Decatur Island. In the current lines off of James Island there were a lot of harbor porpoise! As we made our way to Guemes Channel, we found a California sea lion hauled out on a channel marker. Our last wildlife popped up as we turned the corner to the harbor, a river otter poked his head up to say hi a couple of times! It was a beautiful day on the water, full of sunshine and wildlife!

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 5:25 PM   1 Comments

J-pod orcas today!

We had a fantastic first day out of Anacortes today! We found members of J-pod south of Eastern Bank! Our day began with a bad eagle flying over Cap Sante! Then another one flew in front of the boat as we turned the corner into Guemes Channel. We found our first marine mammal hauled out on the channel marker! It was a California sea lion lounging in the sun. We made the turn and headed south down Rosario Strait. We made our way down past Smith Island toward Eastern Bank. The first orcas we saw were Talhequah and her son Notch. Notch was quite the show off! First, he cartwheeled for us! Then he repeatedly tail lobbed! He was rolling around having a great time! Then Tsuchi showed up swimming right next to Talhequah and Notch! Doublestuf also popped up, but just for a brief visit. We had a couple of groups come together and we shut down the boat and just watched and listened! Then, Captain Michael treated us to a little extra time and we pushed further toward Dungeness Spit where we found Mike, Slick, Echo and Alki. They gave us some great looks as they swam around the boat! We had to leave eventually, as we headed north we found many different birds: pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, surf scoters and common murres. We did a slow down at the south end of Smith and Minor Islands. We found a lot of cormorants, harbor seals and two bald eagles. One eagle was perched on the structure on the island and the other was feasting on something on the shoreline. There were many harbor seals in the water, keeping an eye on the eagle. He was probably taking up their real estate on the beach! We continued home under blue skies and flat water! What a wonderful way to start our season out of Anacortes!

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 5:12 PM   0 Comments

Orca tours start Saturday, May 5th

The Island Explorer 3 is now back in Anacortes and our whale watching tours focusing on killer whales start this Saturday. We will be running weekends and a limited mid week schedule. Daily tours begin May 18th. In Everett we saw gray whales on 49 out of 50 tours in 2012. It was a great spring season, but the numbers of gray whales dropped dramatically this week so we decided to bring our boat back to Anacortes and start our orca tours early this year! There are orcas in the area today and the entire staff is very excited for the first orca tour tomorrow! Check back for photos and reports from tomorrow's tour.

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 10:15 AM   0 Comments

Sea lions and porpoises and a whale, Oh my!!!!

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 5:13 PM   0 Comments

A beautiful spring day on the water

Today our wildlife watching began before we even left the dock, as a harbor seal entertained our guests at the stern of the boat. Soon after, we were visiting with two California sea lions near Jetty Island. We searched today both north and south with excellent water conditions, but could not find a whale for the folks on board. We did see many species of bird throughout the trip, including a bald eagle that passed right by the bow. It was such a beautiful day on the water, and we searched and searched, but it just didn't happen today. Fortunately, everyone on board is welcome to come back for free for life until they see a whale! -Michael Colahan

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 3:26 PM   0 Comments

One Gray Whale in the Delta

We found one gray whale today toward the end of our trip to save our perfect record so far this year. We had some bird watchers on board that were very happy with the variety of birds we saw today. We spotted common loons, Pacific loons, Brant, bald eagles, pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, caspian terns, Bonapartes gulls, western grebes, surf scoters, and all three species of cormorants. At the end of Jetty Island we found three California sea lions, and then later off Possession Point we found two Stellers sea lions. We searched hard and wide at the south end of Whidbey Island without any whale luck. It wasn't until late in the trip that we finally found a whale when I spotted one feeding in the shallows of the Snohomish River delta. This whale was on his side showing his tail flukes and pectoral fins in the air as he fed. He must have found lots of good food in the area because he didn't move very far during our visit. As we headed back to the dock we found our California sea lions again hauled out On the channel marker off Jetty Island. Naturalist Bart Rulon

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 3:26 PM   0 Comments

Heavy winds today

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 8:39 AM   0 Comments

#53 off Hat Island

We found gray whale number 53 on today's trip. He was in between Hat and Camano Islands when we found him. He was swimming in a zig-zag pattern for most of our visit. He did give us some good views especially when he raised his tail flukes on one particular dive. During our whale viewing we also found some harbor porpoises,and harbor seals swimming nearby. Next we motored over toward Camano Island to look at the bald eagle's nest there,and we spotted one of the adult bald eagles nearby. Next we cruised back toward our dock and found our gray whale again for some more views as he swam toward the Snohomish River delta. Other wildlife we spotted today included common loons, surf scoters, red-necked grebes, pigeon guillemots, cormorants, caspian terns, and western grebes. Naturalist Bart Rulon.

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 3:01 PM   0 Comments

Two gray whales off Whidbey Island

Today's trip started with sightings of two ospreys at their nest. The female was incubating eggs and the male was eating a fish. We saw an immature bald eagle right behind them perched on some drift wood on Jetty Island. Next we watched two California sea lions on the channel marker at the end of Jetty Island. We cruise northward along Whidbey Island and eventually I spotted a gray whale just south of Sandy Point. It was #56 and he was swimming pretty quickly southward. While we watched him swim an adult bald eagle flew by along the shoreline. The highlight of our visit with 56 was when he sounded his tail flukes on two different occasions. We said goodbye to him just as we both reached the Clinton ferry lanes. Next we cruised southward looking for more whales at Possession Point. Captain Michael spotted two gray whales and we decided to focus on the one that was closest to us. While waiting for him to resurface we checked out four sea lions sleeping on a marker. Three were Stellers sea lions and one was a California sea lion. Eventually the California sea lion slipped off into the water, then he circled the marker as if he wanted to try to get back on again. Next we motored up to get a few good looks at our second gray whale of the day before we headed back to the dock. Naturalist Bart Rulon.

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 8:01 PM   0 Comments

723 in the sunshine!

We spent our day with 723 and we definitely enjoyed the sunshine! Our trip began as Captain Michael took us up the Snohomish River a little bit to check out the osprey nest. It looked like both of the parents were home. One of them may have been sitting on the eggs. We made the turn and found two bald eagles, one perched on Jetty Island and one flying above Jetty Island. As we made our way out toward Possession Sound, we found two California sea lions hauled out on the channel marker. We made our way to the south end of Hat Island. One of customers found our whale! It was 723. He made his way in between the delta and and shallows at the south end of Hat Island. He was maintaining a rhythmic breathing sequence as he swam. We hung out with him before we made our way north toward Camano Island in search of other animals. We found a couple of bald eagles flying over the nest at the south end of Camano Island. We moved south again in search of our buddy 723. We found him in almost the same exact spot where we left him. He continued his behavior swimming from the delta back toward the south of Hat Island. We had some great looks as he surfaced in front of Hat Island. He was headed the wrong direction for us, so we left him as we headed for the dock. We saw our lazy sea lions again. On the trip we also saw many western grebes, some buffleheads, Caspian terns, rhinoceros auklets and pigeon guillemots. In fact, a harbor seal popped up at the dock to say goodbye to some of our customers! It was such a great day full of sunshine and our friend 723!

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 3:47 PM   0 Comments

3 whales today!

We had a great trip with 53, 56 and 723 today! Our day started under a little bit of liquid sunshine. We saw two California sea lions hauled out on a navigational marker. We continued to the south end of Hat Island where Captain Carl found us two gray whales! It turned out to be 53 and 723! It's great to see 723 because we haven't seen him in over two weeks! We spent some quality time with them as they circled the south end of Hat Island. As they headed south, we headed north to see if there were any other animals in the area. We made our way up to Port Susan where Captain Carl found us another whale. It was gray whale 56. We watched him continue north past Kayak Point. We turned back south and headed back to the other whales. The whole trip today, we had so many harbor seals and a lot of western grebes. We met back up with our first two whales, 53 and 723. It looked like they were in a resting pattern. The sun also graced us with its presence! It even warmed up a little bit! We followed the Coast Gurad buoy tender, Henry Blake, to the dock! It was a wonderful day out on the waters of Possession Sound and Port Susan!

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 3:17 PM   0 Comments

Patch steals the show!

We had two gray whales today: 21 and 49! Patch was the highlight as he fluked for us many times! We started our trip with two California sea lions hauled out on the channel marker. There were also two more swimming the water. Then, on the yellow marker, there were two more! Just awesome! Six sea lions within less than 10 minutes! We headed toward the south end of Hat Island and did a slow down to see if any animals were in the area. We started to head north, when we got the word that there were whales to the south. We turned around and headed toward Possession Point. At the south end of Whidbey Island, we caught up with 21 and 49! They surfaced simultaneously on many occasions! They passed in front of us and Patch (49) fluked for us on every deep dive! We had some amazing looks as they decided to pass in front of us again as they continued south! We had to leave them behind us and head north toward the dock. We had another treat, on another channel marker, we had three Steller sea lions and a California hauled out! One more stop to see our first two sea lions and a fly by from a mature bald eagle ended our wonderful day on the water!

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 3:36 PM   0 Comments

Three Gray Whales

We found three gray whales today off Camano Island. First we started out with five California sea lions hauled out on two different channel markers. Next we cruised slowly looking for a whale Captain Carl spotted from the dock before we left, but it must have moved on. Carl finally spotted the gray whale off Camano Island swimming northward. It was #21 and he was gradually working toward the shoreline. After watching him for about twenty minutes we peeled off to look for more. Within a few minutes I spotted two more gray whales at the south end of Camano Island. It was #53 and #56 and they were the highlight of our trip. These two whales were swimming side by side often surfacing at the same time for the duration of our visit with them. We also spotted two bald eagles flying high above Camano Island while we watched the whales. Other wildlife we spotted today included harbor seals, harbor porpoises,western grebes,white-winged scoters, and a common loon. It was a good day on the water. Naturalist Bart Rulon

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 4:29 PM   0 Comments

Whale in the sun

Today we started the trip off with some absolutely gorgeous weather. On our way out of the marina we passed not two, not three, but four California sea lions all hauled out on one buoy. It was quite the sight to see as one of the seals was actually laid out on top of another. Something I have never seen before. As we passed the marker we were greeted by the Coast Guard buoy tender Henry Blake, which had just left the navy base and was on a trip north. We watched them go by and aimed the boat north as well. We headed up toward Hat Island in search of the Gray whales. As we got to the north end of hat the search was in full swing and everyone was out on deck enjoying the sunshine and nice soft breeze. We found a nice large group of surf scoters hanging out just off the point, but no whales. We then aimed south which allowed us to completely circumnavigate Hat island. As we headed past the Mukilteo/Clinton ferry lane, we were graced by the presence of a mature bald eagle flying over head!!! After he passed over Whidbey Island we continued south. As we passed the tip of whidbey we were treated to a wonderful show of Steller sea lions, again hauled out on a marker. Within a few seconds two more Steller sea lions popped up in the water. They went straight the marker began to try and haul out as well. However the sealions already inhabiting the marker were not having it. As we enjoyed the show Carl found us a gray whale. At first the whale was heading away from us toward point no point but he quickly turned and came back our way. We had some excellent looks at him as he passed our port side, we even got a lazy fluke!!! On closer inspection we found it was gray whale #56. We drove along side him for sometime until we finally had to part ways. However the show wasn't over yet!!! As we were headed back to Everett we were given a great opportunity to watch some very social harbor porpoise play in our wake accompanied by a little harbor seal, who seemed just as curious about us as we were of it. As we passed the end of jetty island we were graced by one more eagle sighting. It was a perfect day to be out in the beautiful waters of the Possession Sound and as you can see we had no shortage of wildlife.

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 3:12 PM   0 Comments

Two Gray Whales near Mukilteo

We had to go southward to find our two whales today. Our wildlife viewing started at Jetty Island with two osprey perched on their nest and a bald eagle perched on a sign nearby. The eagle was lined up nicely with the Olympic Mountains as a background. Two California sea lions greeted us on the channel marker at the end of Jetty Island. A few minutes later we spotted some harbor porpoises. Next we cruised northward to the south end of Camano Island where we spotted some Dalls porpoises, but no whales. So we decided to head southward toward Possession Point. On our way there one of our sharp eyed passengers spotted a blow off in the distance. We investigated and found two gray whales swimming together toward the Mukilteo ferry landing. They were showing their tail flukes so often that it was easy to identify them as #22 and #383. They swam side by side for our entire visit with them and on one occasion they sounded their flukes at the same time. They gave us a great show with the Cascade Mountains, the Mukilteo lighthouse, and one of the ferry boats behind them. It was a great whale watching day and one of the warmest days on the water so far this year! Naturalist Bart Rulon.

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 3:38 PM   0 Comments

Today we found two gray whales and lots of other marine mammals. We had our first animal sighting at the dock while giving our pre-trip orientation when a harbor seal lazily swam by. After getting under way we watched two bald eagles fly over Jetty Island. Shortly after that we watched three California sea lions resting on the channel marker at the end of Jetty Island. Next we cruised northward looking for whales. Along the way we spotted some harbor porpoises. One of our passengers was the first to spot a whale today. It took us a while to find the whale after it first surfaced. It took Michael coming up from the galley before we were able to find the whale again. It was #53 and he gave us good views for about half an hour. Another one of our passengers spotted a different whale swimming in our direction. It turned out to be Patch, 49, and he swam over toward 53 until they were both swimming side by side. They stayed together for the rest of our time with them and eventually they both raised their tail flukes in the air one after the other. During our visit a steller sea lion swam right through the same area where our whales were swimming. With help from our sharp eyed passengers we had a great day on the water. Naturalist Bart Rulon.

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 3:43 PM   0 Comments

Doubleheader!

Today we had two species of whales under sunny skies! We found Bigg's killer whales (transients) and a gray whale! Our day started off with three California sea lions hauled out on the channel marker and more were hauled out on the pontoons of the Navy gate! We pushed south toward the ferry run and found a group of orcas! There were 10-12 in total. They were split into smaller groups of twos, threes and fours. We continued with them as they headed south. We spent time with a group of two that were more surface active. They were rolling around each other and we even had a spyhop and saw some tail! We moved off toward another group where we got some nice looks at a mom and her young calf. Then the two whales we first visited with came back over to visit with us! It was so spectacular to see them swimming gracefully by the shoreline. We headed further to the south end of Whidbey Island. We found one lone Steller sea lion hauled out on the channel marker, it didn't look like he was too worried about the transients being in the area. We left the orcas headed south, so we turned north in search of a gray whale. It wasn't long before we found gray whale 383. On his first deep dive, he fluked for us! On every deep dive, he graced us with his fluke! It was great! We had to head back to the dock, but not before we got one more look at all three of those lazy California sea lions hauled out. What a beautiful day, flat calm water, sunshine, a gray whale and orcas! Upon further analysis of the photos from the day, it appears that we visited with T49A and her family and T49B and her family. The other whales I was not able to identify.

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 3:20 PM   1 Comments

Gray whale season 2012

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 9:07 AM   0 Comments

Patch and Little Patch!

We spent our day under sunny skies hanging out with Patch and Little Patch!

The trip began before we even got off the dock, a mature bald eagle flew over the marina! Captain Michael gave us a treat as we headed up the river and spotted both of our osprey in their nest! It was awesome to see that they are back this year, just a little further north of their nest from last year! We made the turn and headed out to Possession Sound. On the channel marker, we found a lazy California sea lion hauled out enjoying the day. Within just a few minutes, we had found two gray whales at the south end of Hat Island. They gave us some great looks as they popped up next to the boat! We thought they had split up, when actually they were just on alternating deep dives. They both surfaced at the same time heading toward the river delta. We decided it was time to push off further north to see what else we could find. We found Brandt geese, surf scoters, rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillemonts and western grebes. We did a nice slow down alongside Hat Island as we headed south. We found our whales again. This time, they were split up and in the river delta. It must have been time for lunch! We had some nice looks as they swam into even more shallow water. We left them behind us and caught another look at our California sea lion still hanging out on the marker. What a day full of sunshine and our friends Patch and Little Patch!

posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 3:07 PM   0 Comments