Whale Watching Report

This calf did all sorts of acrobatics!!

We started out today's trip by cruising through the inner San Juan islands. Along the way we spotted several harbor porpoises, harbor seals, and bald eagles in multiple locations. We came out on the north side of San Juan Island and headed southward along the west side of San Juan Island in an area that no boats had searched in all day. It only took a few minutes before we spotted orcas coming our way just south of Lime Kiln Park. It was L-pod and the whales were spread out for miles both near the shore and offshore. We spotted Matia, L77, and Moonlight, L83 first. Next we headed offshore to take a look at Mega, L41, when a mom and her calf came racing by us. The female calf was very active as she breached, spyhopped, tailslapped and even breached upside down a few times. Next we moved back toward shore and watched as more orcas passed by including Skana, L79. Another group with an adult female and two young orcas swam by us next. The youngsters in this group were very actively playing with the kelp, and tailslapping. Finally one of them breached three times in a row for us!! It was so good to see L-pod today, but eventually we had to say goodbye. On our way back to the dock we stopped to watch a California sea lion snoozing on a channel marker. What a great day! Naturalist Bart Rulon