A gray day in the San Juans, we were not sure we were going to find any whales. Although the San Juan Islands are located in the rainshadow, surrounded by a protective ring of mountains in the Olympics and Cascades, it was rainy, and the residents that normally grace us had not been seen in the area. Captain Jeff was planning on heading north.
At the last minute, before we left, we heard a secret- there was a large group at Race Rocks headed east, towards us, towards Friday Harbor. We took the Sea Lion south past Long Island, where we saw not just a pair of two mated eagles, but two juveniles as well, a large eagle's nest that will someday be so heavy, it possibly knocks down the tree its sitting in, shnitzel shaped Harbor seals and 1,500 pound steller sea lions barking on whale rocks. I like to joke that when harbor seals move, they look like their doing the worm in breakdancing. And if you've ever done the worm in break dancing, you know how hard it is. Harbor seals don't have much for front flippers, so its hard for them to stroll across the land like their confident sea lion friends, but they manage, often waiting for the tide to float them on or off the rock.
I shared our glimmer of hope with the passengers, "The whales are 32 nautical miles away, we're doing about 7 knots and it will take us a full 2 hours to get there. That is not an option. However we're headed in their direction, hoping that we'll meet up as they keep moving east." Captain Jeff persevered, and lo and behold, eventually we saw whale watching boats in the distance. We shared squeals of delight followed by high fives as we realized our long trip across the Canadian-American border had paid off. Dorsal fins and blows were finally in the distance.
Upon getting there, we identified about 12 transients, a large group for stealthy marine mammal eating Orcas. One of them, T63 was especially astounding as he had 2 equally sized chunks taken out of the top of his dorsal fin, possibly from prey that fought back. Transients are responsible for the ancient demonic portrayal of the Orca, as the fisherman saw them attacking mammals such as dolphins, porpoise, seals, even other whales, and thought they'd attack them too. However, there has never been an attack on a human by an Orca in the wild- captivity is another story...best saved for another day.
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©
At the last minute, before we left, we heard a secret- there was a large group at Race Rocks headed east, towards us, towards Friday Harbor. We took the Sea Lion south past Long Island, where we saw not just a pair of two mated eagles, but two juveniles as well, a large eagle's nest that will someday be so heavy, it possibly knocks down the tree its sitting in, shnitzel shaped Harbor seals and 1,500 pound steller sea lions barking on whale rocks. I like to joke that when harbor seals move, they look like their doing the worm in breakdancing. And if you've ever done the worm in break dancing, you know how hard it is. Harbor seals don't have much for front flippers, so its hard for them to stroll across the land like their confident sea lion friends, but they manage, often waiting for the tide to float them on or off the rock.
I shared our glimmer of hope with the passengers, "The whales are 32 nautical miles away, we're doing about 7 knots and it will take us a full 2 hours to get there. That is not an option. However we're headed in their direction, hoping that we'll meet up as they keep moving east." Captain Jeff persevered, and lo and behold, eventually we saw whale watching boats in the distance. We shared squeals of delight followed by high fives as we realized our long trip across the Canadian-American border had paid off. Dorsal fins and blows were finally in the distance.
Upon getting there, we identified about 12 transients, a large group for stealthy marine mammal eating Orcas. One of them, T63 was especially astounding as he had 2 equally sized chunks taken out of the top of his dorsal fin, possibly from prey that fought back. Transients are responsible for the ancient demonic portrayal of the Orca, as the fisherman saw them attacking mammals such as dolphins, porpoise, seals, even other whales, and thought they'd attack them too. However, there has never been an attack on a human by an Orca in the wild- captivity is another story...best saved for another day.
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©
posted by San Juan Safaris Whale Watching at
4:51 PM
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