Guests on the Sea Hawk have been so lucky the past few days! While we do have over a 90% success for seeing whales during the summer, we don’t always see superpods. Today, we had another superpod! This is the 4th time in about a week. We first received reports of whales being near Kellet Bluff on Henry Island (Henry Isl. is one of the islands that barriers Roche Harbor). The Sea Hawk, with Captain Brian and Naturalist Kevin meet up with the whales near Hein Bank, which is in the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Kevin said they had all three pods swimming around the boat. The sub-group L12s swam right off the stern of the Sea Hawk. Kevin and Brian could see that the group was led by L12 Alexis, who is estimated to be born in 1933. Our guests were having so much fun, that Brian extended the trip a bit to spend more time with the whales.
Kayak guide Nick and guests on his full-day paddle saw a big male stellar sea lion. The sea lion was near Kellet Bluff and popped up about 50 yards from their kayaks. The sea lion surfaced a few more times to breath, looked at Nick and his guests, and then dove out of sight. We see male sea lions most often during the late fall, winter, and early spring months. It seems like this big guy is back in the San Juans early!
Multi-day guides Jesse & Don just got back from their overnight to Stuart Island. And they saw more whales! They were on a sunset hike to the Turn Point Lighthouse and saw the superpod from earlier yesterday swimming north. Currently, overnight guide Philip is getting geared up for a multi-day departing from our Friday Harbor location tomorrow morning.