Newly Born Seal Pup

Newly Born Seal Pup

Our tour today included the freshest newly born seal pup I have ever seen. Look closely at the photos and see the blood in the water. The umbilical cord is hanging from both mom and pup with amniotic fluid and placenta is still all over the pup.

Someone else witnessed the event too. A Bald Eagle took notice too, he came in for a landing as the mom and pup hit the water to be safer from the eagle.

That seal pup sure seemed like a big baby to me, compared to some of the skinny little guys I have seen on the banks lately.

The Lost Whales

We continued, and several boats worked together to search an area where some whales were seen earlier. We did not find them, so I made my way into the Strait of Georgia via Jurgenson Pass. I entered the strait, watching the rocks on each side of my boat. Two of my guests saw blows off to our right. I did not see the blows since my attention was on the narrow passage into the strait. However, I did turn in that direction, and we stopped several times to scan for whatever they had spotted.

At the same time, another boat was searching in the opposite direction. I wish I had seen the blow myself. Being on the water every day helps me to gauge distance and likely would be able to determine the type of cetacean we were looking for.

As a result of all of us searching north of Friday Harbor, we scanned a lot of miles, but we all came up empty. There were Orca spotted up north of Nanaimo, but that is a two-plus hour journey to the north. There were Humpback Whales out west of Victoria in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. However, there were also 2′ to 4′ seas out that way.

Rough Conditions Out West

For the afternoon tour, we did venture out into the strait going west. We were pummeled on the trip out there and feeling it this evening with sore muscles. The trip ended up being a 4 1/2 hour tour, but we did see a couple of Humpback Whales.

We started out watching a whale known as “Stitch” going against the wind and waves. To make the ride smoother during viewing, I switched to another whale going with the wind and waves. I did not get a fluke shot, so I am not sure who we were viewing. The protrusions you see on the fluke are Goose Barnacles.

The ride back was much smoother going with the weather instead of against it, but it took us a long time to get back. It was a rough day for seeing whales, but still, we saw a pretty cool part of nature on the morning tour with the newly born seal pup and a couple of humpbacks on the afternoon tour.