Olivia | August 20th, 2019 | M/V Sea Hawk | 5:00pm Charter
This evening, Captain Sarah and I had a private charter booked on Sea Hawk that was a reunion for some old college friends and their families. It was such a fun group of folks right off the bat that came pouring on with all the yummy foods to make it a social outing in the Salish Sea. We headed north through the San Juan Channel in hopes to see a potential whale sighting near Sandy Point off Waldron Island. Being a Harbor Porpoise hot spot, we were already seeing tons of these tiny cetaceans peak to the surface with their chocolate chip dorsal fins.
Our unpredictable, wild whales changed direction and headed towards Moresby Island at around 4 to 6kts. Captain Sarah, known for her good whale luck, decided to keep going in hopes to find something black and white with large dorsal fins swimming in the salty water. Sure enough, we rounded towards Turn Point and there they were! Our Bigg’s Killer Whale family group, the T49’s stopped to feed on some smaller marine mammals. This group comprised of about 5 individuals; our matriarch born in 1966, her eldest daughter, and three sons- two of which had tall dorsal fins! This was especially fun to compare our Killer Whale Catalog to all their photos later in the trip, as some of these males had very distinguishing nicks in their fins making them stand out and see who exactly we were viewing.
The entire trip, we saw heaps of Pink Salmon leaping out of the water! These wily fish were a fun cherry on top. Hearing about the fun history of Spieden Island, we boated past there on the way home to see tons of Bald Eagles, Harbor Seals, Sika Deer, Fallow Deer, and Mouflon Sheep- it was a big hit with our passengers!
At this hour, we were one of two boats on scene, had the gorgeous, golden sun setting next to us, and astounding views of Turn Point Lighthouse with Mount Baker standing proud in the background. What more could we have hoped for? Come join us and see for yourself!