San Juan Whale Watching

The weather today was perfect and the water was flat calm!

We had an amazing trip through the San Juan Islands searching for wildlife today. It seemed like all of the wildlife was out enjoying the beautiful weather as well.

We found lots of Steller Sea Lions feeding off of Spieden Island, with one of them bringing a huge fish up to the surface and tearing it apart right in front of us. We also found a huge river otter on the bank at Spieden Island. We don’t normally see many river otters, so this was a special treat as we watched it scurry down into the water and swim along the shore line. Up north in Haro Strait we came across several Dall’s Porpoises. Some of the Dall’s Porpoises decided to come over to the boat and swim in our wake, which is one of the coolest experiences you can have out here. They are literally 6 feet below you, often looking up at you from just below the surface of the water. Over by Gooch Island we found almost 100 Harbor Porpoises feeding in the tidal rips. What an amazing sight! I like to shut the engines down and drift in these situations. All around us we heard the puffing sounds of porpoises surfacing as we drifted in the current. We also found several Bald Eagles. They should be laying eggs soon. I can’t wait to see the eaglets grow up again this year.