Our morning tour we saw lots of marine life but a minke whale was elusive to us as it was lost in a fog bank. The afternoon tour was a 5-hour tour where only two boats from Friday Harbor were able to see Orca. If Canada didn’t have their water border closed we all could have seen Orca on the Canadian side.
We met up with the T65A’s after a lengthy search to relocate them from a previous sighting. We also saw an Elephant Seal, what I think is a flock of Red-necked Phalarope but I am not positive. We also saw a Gray Whale, Tufted Puffin today, Steller Sea Lions fighting, Rhinoceros Auklet, Black Oystercatchers, Harlequin Ducks, and more.
The Gray Whale was pretty far off, about 300 yards but he was in very shallow water on the mudflats. I was in 12 feet of water and he was even shallower than where I was. What is he doing in the mudflats? He is eating Ghost Shrimp. He fans the mud up and engulfs all the Ghost Shrimp he can, then forces the water and muddy silt out through his baleen while retaining the shrimp.
“The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
Jacques Cousteau
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