Jordan | August 23, 2018 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 trip
Today was lovely as blue skies peaked through the clouds. Captain Sarah and I headed out of Roche Harbor towards reports of whales up in Canada!
As we reached the west side of Spieden Island we spotted a harbor seal in the water eating a salmon! It was so fun to watch him fling the fish around, trying to tear it apart to eat as seagulls swooped into the area trying to take advantage of free food!
Then we traveled further north, up into Canadian waters as we passed Turn Point and crossed Boundary Pass. Once we made it up towards Pender Island, we found our whales! The T100s were found swimming gracefully through the water. These transient (Bigg’s) killer whales eat only marine mammals so they were scanning the rocky crevices for seals along the shoreline.
One of the whales was a big male with a huge wobbly dorsal fin which looked even bigger in comparison next to his younger sibling who is only 3 years old! This youngster was super adorable swimming excitedly next to his mother. Just like our siblings and infants, young whales look towards there mothers and brothers for guidance and security in their families.
It was really amazing to see these spectacular animals in their natural habitat! As they got closer to our boat, we could even hear their powerful breathing and appreciate their enormous bodies. The females get up to 20 feet long and the males can reach 30 feet! That’s more than half the length of our long boat.
Eventually we had to head home but it was definitely a really great day out on the Salish Sea.