Today we took the Seahawk out for another beautiful cruise through the San Juan Islands. We left Roche Harbor to head towards Sentinel Rock, a popular seal haul-out location. Harbor seals are about 5 or 6 feet long and weight around 300 pounds, most of which is blubber. Even though they're covered in this generous layer of fat, they still get chilly in our frigid, 47 degree Fahrenheit waters, so they often scoot themselves up on rocky islands and shorelines to bask in our glorious sunshine.
After observing the enviable lifestyle of the harbor seal, we moved just a touch northwards to Spieden Island. Spieden is the largest privately-owned island in the San Juans. The original owners, a pair of exotic big-game enthusiast brothers, stocked the island with lions, giraffes, and other non-native animals to hunt for sport. Today three of these animals still exist on the island, including the mouflon sheep that we saw in pretty large numbers today!
We also observed some beautiful, stoic bald eagles on Spieden before moving into the Cactus Islands and John's Pass. There we saw some huge bull kelp rafts with some seals navigating through them in pursuit of fish to snack on. We headed home past the always-gorgeous Turn Point and entered Roche Harbor through Mosquito Pass to spend the rest of the day enjoying the sunlight and summer heat.
Naturalist Sarah C.
M/V Seahawk