Orca Whales-Always on the move

Before we began our whale watching adventure today, Captain Craig had been informed that there were four to five foot swells out in the waters on the south western side of the San Juan Island. So, we decided to avoid a rocking-roaring adventure we left Friday Harbor heading north. But, as we began our journey up the San Juan Channel, we heard from other whale watch operators discussing the conditions, which (to our luck) had become calm. With a quick U-turn we were on our way south! This decision meant we would have more likelihood of catching up with the whales, which we had heard were travelling southwest off the south western side of San Juan Island.
After cruising along (over mirror calm water - whoa, did the conditions change fast) past the west side of San Juan Island, and offshore of Lopez Island, we found orcas! We watched members of J Pod and L Pod travel around us on all sides. It was hard to know which direction to look! We saw breaches in the distance, tail slaps galore, closer looks of some dorsal fins passing to both our starboard and port sides, and even got to watch L57 travel past our bow after we had shut down our engines to let him pass. We headed back eastward, and watched more orcas swimming in the distance from us. Right before we left the scene to head home, J42 (the youngest member of J Pod, who will be a year old this summer!) breach three times! It was the perfect way to end the whale watching portion of the trip. As we drove home we had the opportunity to view other Salish Sea creatures, including Harbor Seals, Cormorants, Bald Eagles (and a Bald Eagle Nest) and all sorts of seabirds!

What a great day!

Ashley Chapman, Naturalist