Whale Watching Report

The weather conditions were perfect for our morning trip today with calm seas and sunshine. We headed north looking for orcas today. Along the way we stopped at Peapod Rocks to view several harbor seals hauled out on the shore and a bald eagle perched on a rock. The eagle even posed for us by opening up his wings for a good photo opportunity. We reached the trailers in an orca superpod just east of Stuart Island. The first orcas we saw were L-pod orcas Skana, L-79, and Mystery, L-85. Swimming along with them was K-pod orca Raggedy, K40. As they reached the shoreline of Stuart Island one orca breached! We drove ahead to Turn Point to watch the orcas pass by the point very close to the shore. They had to swim out of their way to go around a big kelp forest. This group bunched up and became active after passing the point and we saw one breach and some tail slaps. Last we moved offshore to take a close up look at Mega, L41, swimming all by himself. Our return trip was through the inner San Juan Islands giving our passengers a scenic ride home.
Our afternoon trip started out with word that the wind would be picking up in the afternoon. Knowing that we rushed out to find the whales as soon as possible without making any stops along the way. We found members of J-pod and K-pod swimming southward well off the west side of San Juan Island, offshore from Salmon Bank. As we were approaching the scene we saw a couple of orca spy hops. Our first two whales at close range were Granny, J-2, and Sekiu, K-22, swimming together. Next we watched a big group of orcas approach, including Ruffles, with their blows lighting up with back lighting from the sun. Soon we had orcas in all directions and several breaches in a row. One orca breached 5 times in a row for us. The wind was slowly getting stronger so we decided to take a return trip back through the inner islands going through Cattle Pass. A Stellers sea lion rolled around at the surface and swallowed a salmon with one big gulp right in front of us just inside Cattle Pass. Later we stopped to watch two adult bald eagles and two immature eagles on Decatur Island. One adult bald eagle was perched right next to the nest with the big chick perched inside. We got to see one last bald eagle perched high on a dead snag bathed in full sunlight. Soon a turkey vulture flew right in front of him. Within a minute or two the eagle took flight and flew right over our boat. Two great blue herons were flying high above at the same time. What a great way to end a beautiful day. Naturalist Bart Rulon