Whale Watching Report

The sun came out just in time for our trip today. We started out watching a bald eagle and some ospreys on Jetty Island then moved on to watch a California sea lion hauled out on a channel marker. Soon Captain Carl spotted our first gray whale. It was Patch, #49, and he gave us a half an hour or more of great viewing. For a while he appeared to be following, at very close range, a seal or sea lion! Next we decided to look for more gray whales and our search paid off when we reached the north end of Hat Island and found three gray whales swimming together. They were swimming against the shoreline and moving pretty fast, but they were pretty active. Many times they would raise their tail flukes hi in the air. We identified #22, #383, and #356 in this group. Other wildlife spotted today included western grebes, common loons, more bald eagles, a marbled murrelet, and surf scoters. Naturalist Bart Rulon