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Many Orca Today
We had three tours today viewing the T46s, T46Bs, and T137s. We started at the bottom of Lopez and ended with them nearing Dungeness Spit on the Olympic Peninsula. In the middle, one of our couples became the highlight of the tour. Jeremy asked Whitnee to marry him, and she said yes. This meant that the rest of the tour they were smiling and beaming.
We began viewing three adult males; two of them were brothers T46D and T46E. The other Male was T137A. These big boys are as long as my boat 26′ and weigh about 9,000 lbs each. They eat 300 lbs of meat a day. Their 6′ tall dorsal fin takes a while to grow. When they reach the age of about 10, they start growing that dorsal fin. By age 20 it is 6′ tall, and they are considered to be an adult. That in-between stage they are known as “Sprouters” They stay with mom even as adults. Mom is the boss and leader of the pod.
Lots of Beautiful Sea Birds
We had several sea birds around today. I included some photos of Bald Eagles, Pacific Common Murre, Tufted Puffin, Rhinoceros Auklet including one flying by with a fish in its mouth. I was also delighted to see so many Red-Necked Phalarope in the strait today. The Red Necked Phalarope spins in a circle creating a whirlpool in the water. He will then sidestep out of the whirlpool and peck at the little critters that got caught in the whirlpool. They are a beautiful and tiny little bird. There were also Black Oystercatchers and a whole bunch of young Harlequin Ducks.
More Mammals
On two of the tours, we saw Minke Whale. On the second tour, there were three I could see lunge feeding on a bait ball. By the time we got close enough to turn the boat to view them, they had dived. I barely caught one of them before it went down again. They are the second smallest Baleen Whale in the world next to the Pygmy Right Whale. The Stellar Sea Lions are always impressive, and today was no exception. It is nice to see the Stellars starting to come back to the Salish Sea.
Calm Waters
The water conditions were beautifuly calm. The sky was quite hazy today. I learned there is a forest fire east of the Cascades, but I was wondering how all that smoke had made it over to the Salish Sea. But then, I learned from one of my guests that Siberia is suffering some major forest fires, and the smoke was making its way across the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast and our Salish Sea. As a result, our skies are getting more brown by the day.
She said Yes
It can not get much better than today with so many Orca to be viewing and all the other amazing marine life we are blessed to see. Plus the big event of the day, two of our guests become engaged when she said yes, as we were viewing whales.
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