Yesterday we had a super fun wedding party charter the Seahawk for some fun in the sunny San Juan Islands. Captain Gabe and I set out south to go look for a Humpback Whale! On the way we saw a couple of Harbor Porpoises playing in the awesome rips as that days strong tide pushed in the opposite direction as an odd northerly wind. We went all the way down south past Friday Harbor and Turn Island in to calm Griffin Bay. We first spotted the Humpback close to shore, looking like it was eating. These shallower bays (still around 100 ft deep) are great places for these guys to find their food – tiny things. Baitfish and small crustaceans swim around and get concentrated in the shallow bays since there is not as much water for them to move around them. This whale looked like he was headed straight for a forming bait ball! Bait balls are tight schools of tiny fish that have formed because they are all eating their food or something is trying to eat them. You can see these bait balls from the surface because there are a ton of sea birds going crazy all in the same patch of water. We watched this gentle giant head straight through the bait ball scoop up (literal) tons of food as the birds scattered. We soon headed back after all the ooo’s and ah’s subsided, took a look at a fishing Sea Lion, a bunch of Harbor Seal sunning themselves, and a Juvenile Bald Eagle waiting to steal from those unsuspecting Harbor Seals.
Whale folks until next time,
Naturalist Erick
M/V Seahawk
Humpback whale tail fluke. Photo by Kevin Culmback.