Our day started off heading south and viewing harbor seals, bald eages and other sea birds enroute to see J Pod. Then we headed out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca to watch a group of about 10 Orca from J Pod.
Most of our time was spent shut down and just observing and listening to them. Whale watching, a Minke Whale showed up in the midst of them. For about a half-hour, the Minke Whale would surface nearby and eventually moved north back up towards Salmon Bank. We had Tsuchi and Tofino, the youngest in this group.
We left this group and headed down to Hein Bank to view J27 Blackberry, J44 Moby and one other.
On our way back to Friday Harbor we stopped off to see a Humpback Whale that had passed by Friday Harbor. I am not positive, because I didn’t get a great fluke shot, but I saw part of one and think we had Yogi.
A very nice day of water conditions and weather.
Ken Rea, owner and operator of the Spirit of Orca, is also the tour guide, photographer and naturalist on his Whale Watching and Wildlife Tours in the Salish Sea, San Juan Island, Washington.
Photos by Ken Rea
To learn more about Captain Ken, visit https://spiritoforca.com
