Saturday July 10th 2010

Today we headed north and stopped along the way to look at some harbor seals on Clement’s Reef. Then we turned west and headed to Haro Strait. On the southwest side of San Juan Island J and K pod were milling around and foraging. It was quite different from yesterday. Yesterday, it was breaches and spy hops. Today there was not much above surface activity. Instead, as we drifted slowly with our engines off, the whales came to us! We (by law and whale watching etiquette) stay 100 yards away from Orcas. However, if they come up to the boat, we are supposed to stay in position with our engines off or in neutral until they pass. We had some very close passes by J26 (Mike b. 1991) and J21 (Cappuccino b.1986). These are some very large adult males.  When they swam alongside the boat, we could clearly see their immense bodies and black and white markings under the water. Male Orcas can get up to 28 feet and 13,000 pounds. We don’t always get this view, as the water visibility can be very poor at times. What a special treat today! We had some passengers who had come out with us yesterday. They enjoyed themselves so much that they came out with us again today. They had two completely different whale watching experiences and said both were fantastic. They were lucky to get to see the whales up close, and yesterday to see all of the acrobatics 100 yards or more off the boat. Every day is a unique experience. We also spotted harbor seals, a swimming sea lion, (we prefer to see them hauled out on the rocks, but they have their own agenda), and harbor porpoise. Birds today were: bald eagles, marbled murrelets, pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, cormorants (pelagic and double crested), and numerous gulls.