Wow! That is pretty much the only way to describe our tour today. Dream up your perfect vision of a whale watching trip and we pretty much had it. We started the whale watching portion of the trip at Turn Point on Stuart Island. Captain Craig parked the boat with the perfect view a Turn Point lighthouse and the tippy-top of Mount Baker peeking out above giant fluffy distant clouds. The sun was shining down on us and the waters were calm. The warm land breeze from Stuart Island blew upon us, keeping us much warmer than a chilly sea breeze would.
Such a wonderful setting, even before we found the whales ... but the perfect whale watching trip hadn't even begun! Suddenly, whales started rounding Turn Point. Then more whales, then more! Orca after orca came toward the point, puffs of water vapor could be seen as distant whales headed our way and the orcas that passed by glistened in the sun. It was a super pod today, meaning all the whales from the Southern Resident community passed us by! Before seeing the whales we had seen harbor seals and bald eagles, after seeing the whales we saw MORE harbor seals, tons of wildlife on Spieden Island, a few harbor porpoise AND a minke whale!
Boy oh boy, it was a fantastic day!
Ashley, Naturalist