Lauren | M/V Osprey | Wednesday, April 30th | 2:00 PM
Today’s Classic Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour took a lengthy trip north up into the Strait of Georgia! We began our tour by departing Friday Harbor and aiming for Presidents Channel. On our way to Presidents we slowly cruised by McConnell Island to look at a bald eagle perched high up on a tree top. We continued northeast and got a glimpse of some harbor porpoise surfacing between Waldron and Orcas Island. We made our way through Boundary Pass, getting looks at the light houses on both Patos and Saturna Island. We found ourselves in the midst of a tanker traffic jam and had to hang tight while these massive ships made their way towards Vancouver, British Columbia. After the tankers passed, we made our way into Canada cruising into the Strait of Georgia, with our destination in sight.
We caught up with Bigg’s Killer Whale family, the T065B’s as they headed north towards Point Roberts. The T065B’s are made up of T065B/Chunk (mom), and her three kiddos, T065B1/Birdsall, T065B2/Nettle, and T065B3/Rook. We got to observe what looked like a sibling hangout sesh. The entire time we were on scene with these whales mom was traveling solo up ahead, with the three youngsters several hundred yards behind her. It’s always fun to speculate what the whales are doing and why. Did mom need some me time? Was she scoping out a dinner plan? Was one of the kids learning to babysit? These are the questions that keep me up at night.
We made our way back into US waters and headed for home. On our transit back we witnessed an insane feeding frenzy! Thousands of birds, made up of mostly Bonaparte's Gulls, were scattered across Boundary Pass diving for fish. Along with the Bonaparte's were two bald eagles, several cormorants, Glaucous Winged Gulls, and Pigeon Guillemots. What a spectacular way to end an amazing day on the water.
Check out our SmugMug to see photos of all the wildlife from today’s trip at https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/