Saturday, June 21st -1pm trip- The whales are back in town!!

We left Friday Harbor at 1pm on Saturday with news that the K- & L-Pods (orca whales) were just off Lime Kiln Light on the west side of the island and they were making their way north! Capt. Pete started us off by showing us all an osprey in its nest in the tip top of a tree along the San Juan Island coast...then he wanted to "compare" architecture to a bald eagle's nest nearby. After checking out our local birds of prey we continued on around....as we make our way down the west side we hear that the Orcas have turned around! Go figure...wild animals...never following our schedule! Another one of those trips that just goes to show you that we never know what these whales are thinking!!
Turns out that another boat was with the J-Pod in Rosario Strait and they're heading south. By the time we catch up with the K-pod and L-pod they are very spread out and cruising to meet up with the Js. We get some nice views of those dorsal fins, a few breaches, tail slaps, as they parade by us onward. We leave the orcas knowing that they are most likely going to be socializing all together in what we call a superpod!!
As we head back home, we get a few great looks at some harbor seals hauled out and Capt. Pete gives us a quick lessons in the currents that we're experiencing off of Dead Man's Rock. All in all a fabulous trip and we circumnavigated San Juan Island!!

-Jaclyn, naturalist