Friendly Minke Whale Makes Close Passes!!
Making A Splash (Dall's Porpoise)
Photo by Naturalist Kate Janes
Breaking the Surface
Photo by Naturalist Kate Janes
LunchPhoto by Naturalist Kate Janes
"The Island Explorer 3 existed the marina and entered into Guemes Channel where we found Harbor Seals and Harbor Porpoise swimming searching for food in its water! Our journey today lead us southward into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and towards the sunshine! In the Strait of Juan de Fuca hundreds of Common Murres sat in lines on the water, pairs of Marbled Murreletts dove quickly as we continued on our adventure and the loud smacking of Pacific Loon's feet as they took off from the water could be heard as we searched for whales! We made our way to the south end of San Juan Island when we found Dall's Porpoise rooster tailing in the distance! As we approached the 6 foot long porpoise they quickly became engaged with the boat!! Their black and white bodies could be seen bow riding moving fast from side to side, while others went to our stern to play in the wake!! After a few minutes the porpoise disappeared. A quick turn of the boat caused the porpoise to regain interest in the boat!! This thrilling interaction between the porpoises and the boat continued for quite awhile before we departed looking for whales! It was venturing back to Lopez Island where we found a very friendly Minke Whale who wanted to check us out!! Slowly making its way through the water allowed our guests great looks at the grey banding patterns on its back leading up to its small dorsal fin! At one point the whale turned from us placing us downwind from the whale, resulting in us smelling the whales foul breath!! The water being flat calm also allowed our guests to see the formation of the footprints as the whale reentered the water!! As we left our friendly Minke after a great visit, another Minke appeared moments later! This much smaller whale surfaced a few times before disappearing! We ended our journey with a pass between Lopez Island & Castle Rock where we saw a couple of Harbor Seals hauled out, a Belted Kingfisher flying along the shoreline and a Great Blue Heron fishing from on top of some Bull Kelp!" - Naturalist Kate Janes
posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 6:33 PM
0 Comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home