Whale Watching Report

What an amazingly beautiful day on the water! We started off in Guemes Channel and Rosario Strait with some harbor porpoise. As we slowed down at the south end of Colville Island, we had a real treat! There were six bald eagles in a little cove on the island. We couldn't quite see if there was anything of interest in the cove, but the black oystercatchers were going crazy! They didn't want those eagles hanging out, probably too close to their nest. The bald eagles kept flying around and back to the ridge of the island, then back to the cove. It was very interesting. There were also a lot of harbor seals hauled out and a California sea lion too! We haven't seen a California sea lion in probably a month or so. Our customers got a great look at the differences between harbor seals and California sea lions. We continued westbound in search of whales. At Salmon Bank, we found two minke whales, who gave us some great looks. We just had to go a little further west to find the orcas! The first whales we came on scene with were Ophelia, Surprise!, Pooka and Surprise!'s new calf L112! They gave us some great looks as they swam by the boat! The next whale we watched was Alexis. She had a very rhythmic breathing sequence, a couple of short dives followed by a longer dive. Pooka gave us a nice little "swim-by" too! We also saw Nyssa and Nigel. The last whale we spent time with was Crewser. He was fishing, moving around quickly and even rolled on his side, showing us his pec fin! It was such a nice day spent with members of L-pod!

Surprise and L112

Alexis