Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Our weather is holding out and we hope to continue to run on Saturdays until it changes. That is, until our ‘rainy season’ starts. That can be anytime soon here in the Northwest. This is usually our ‘gear down’ time and that is why we are only running on Saturdays. Today we took an extra scenic route! We headed down Bellingham Channel to Rosario Strait and then heard that the whales were on the north end of San Juan Island. So we went through Lopez Pass up over the top end of Lopez Island and down San Juan Channel through the middle of the islands. Our return trip took us through the middle of the islands, but a totally different route. We went through narrow Pole Pass, and then Peavine Pass. Both of these routes are beautiful. The narrow passes offer gorgeous views of the Madrona trees, kelp beds floating on the surface, and a chance to slow down and really take it all in. When we encountered the whales they were actively foraging. There was not much above surface activity. We couldn’t even get an ID on them, because they were not surfacing much. Part of the time they were also close to shore and we stay a quarter mile off when we are on the west side of San Juan Island. (regulations). However, the passengers were happy to see whales. We just know that some days can be better than others! Everyone always wants to see breaching and other above surface activities. When we are out here we only witness a very small percentage of what their lives are all about. They can dive hundreds of feet and they only need to come to the surface to breathe. Why they do above surface activities such as breaching: we really don’t know, we can only speculate. When people ask why my reply is “Because they can!” The fact that they were so heavily feeding is a good sign. Our salmon population is drastically lower than it’s ever been. We have 86 whales in J, K, and L pods and each individual needs to consume two to four hundred pounds a day! Our whales are specialized to feed on salmon. They are not like   transient orcas that eat marine mammals. The salmon issue will have to be addressed because these whales are on the Endangered Species Act, and lack of food is likely one of the main reasons.  Hopefully this issue will be addressed sooner, rather than later. Join us next Saturday for one our few remaining tours of the season. We’ve had a great whale watching season, as well as all of the other abundant wildlife that resides in the San Juan Islands. The photos today are some great ones from our passengers this summer.