Today we left Roche harbor with the reports of J pod at Eagle Point headed South. We headed out Mosquito Pass towards Haro Strait and saw a number of seals on our route. It is currently seal pupping season so those cute little guys are an adorable sight this time of the year. Since the whales were headed south during our travels they ended up on the South end of Lopez Island traveling East. Thankfully there was a trailing group of four whales that were moving at a slow pace and giving us great viewing! We watched the whales travel slowly towards Anacortes and even got to see a few tail slaps. The highlight of the trip was watching one whale breach four times in a row! As a naturalist, it is pretty common for people to ask you why whales breach. The answer to that is that researchers don't really know why the whales do it but they have a few educated guesses; The first is that it could be used for communication, the second is that they are trying to get any dead skin or parasites off their body, and the third is that they're just having fun! We had a beautiful sunny day out on the water and we enjoyed every minute of it.
Naturalist Rachel
M/V SeaHawk, San Juan Outfitters