Yesterday we left Roche Harbor with reports of a minke whale across Haro Strait. We headed across Haro Strait into Canada! We got a few good looks at the Minke Whale and then decided to go around Stewart Island and through John's Pass. Minke Whales are the smallest of the baleen whales at about 30 feet in length. We went through John's pass and saw quite a few harbor seals with their pups. It is pupping seasons for the seal pups so have been seeing quite a few of those little guys around. When we were heading through John's Pass we got a report of a sea otter by flattop island. Needless to say Captain Chris and I were very excited! On the way to see the sea otter we saw a good amount of mature and immature bald eagles in flight. We got to flattop island and were lucky enough to see the cute little sea otter. We generally don't have sea otters in this area so this was quite the unexpected surprise! We enjoyed watching the sea otter for a while and then headed back to Roche Harbor by way of Spieden Channel. Although it was a bit windy yesterday it was still sunny and beautiful and all the guests seemed to enjoy the special trip that we had.
Naturalist Rachel
M/V Sea Hawk, San Juan Outfitters