Bigg’s Orca Repeat Tour

Today we had a Bigg’s Orca Repeat Tour taking us on the same route as yesterday except they turned south in Rosario Strait instead of north.

 

The T65A’s came back for another visit today again being seen in San Juan Channel and proceeding east through the islands and into Rosario Strait. At one point they took up most of Thatcher Pass with another boat on the north side of them and me on the south side of them. The ferry Chelan was approaching from the east and altered course to pass south of me. The ferry ended up drifting by as we both shut down with the whales popping up even closer. The passengers on the ferry were loving it with lots of “Wow”s “Oooh”s and “Ahh”s. 

 

I commend the WSF Chelan captain today for his nicely handling the situation in a safe and legal manner.

 

We saw some pinnipeds in the way of Harbor Seals and a few Stellar Sea Lions who were playing around in the turbulent current of the ebb tide. Lots of sea birds including Harlequin Ducks, Black Oystercatchers, Rhinoceros Auklet, Bald Eagles, Pigeon Guillemot, and more. In one of the Black Oystercatcher pics, you can see its long pink finger-like toes with black toenails. One pic of a pair of female Harlequin Duck is not a great picture but I included it because of the goofy look the one was giving.