It’s been a crazy busy day at the dock at our main Roche Harbor location. We had full a group of nearly 25 guests go out with us at 9:30am in addition to full tours at 10 and 10:30. Every single kayak we own is being used today. All of 'em. That's a lot of kayaks! As I’m writing this, we have family groups and a group of very excited Boy Scouts getting geared up for their 3-hour paddles.
Philip, Chase, & Nick, Jesse, and Michael saw a ton of harbor seals and harbor seal pups on their morning trips. We are right on the cusp of pupping season for these cute little guys. Harbor seals are very unique in the sense that females have a biological process that is called delayed implantation. Basically, a fertilized embryo will not implant in the mother until the females receive an environmental queue (anyone know what it is? Because none of us were able to figure it out!). 9 months later, all these harbor seals are born within about a two week span. That’s why we see so many! On the morning trips, our guests saw them hauled out on kelp nursing, swimming right next to mom, and even hitching a ride on her back. These little ones are notoriously curious and will often times approach a kayak to figure out what we are! Did you know that pups are able to swim and dive within hours of birth?!
Aside from our regular day trips, Don, Josh, and Katy just returned from an overnight trip to Jones Island with 12 guests! They had an awesome time exploring other island during their overnight as well. They also spent time on Yellow Island and Posey Island where they saw bald eagles and more harbor seal pups. Rumor has it that Katy snacked on some raw jelly fish!
Captain Brian and Naturalist Tiffany had an amazing whale watch today. The Sea Hawk approached J pod near an area called Salmon Bank, which is at the southern tip of San Juan Island. Guests on our boat witnessed over a dozen full body breeches, porpoising, and spy hopping. Granny (J2), who turned 100 years old this year, swam right underneath the boat with about 6 other Js. There were so many whales surrounding the boat and the Sea Hawk stayed out on the water extra long to give our guests the best possible experience!