Minke at Hein Bank, Sunday May 17, 2009
"Sunscreen needed! Today was a beautiful day in the islands. We headed out Guemes channel and were treated to a California sea lion lazily enjoying the beautiful weather on top a channel marker. He didn't even bother to look up as we made our way past him into Rosario strait where we encountered harbor porpoise feeding off of Burrows island. Mt. Baker was in full view today as were the Olympic Mt's. and even distant Mt. Rainer. We headed around the south end of Loped island checking out the 40 or so harbor seals hauled out on the rocks. As we neared Hein bank we had our first whale sighting of the day by Captain Carl. We soon found that we not only had one Minke whale but two. The birds started to get active, Rhinoceros Auklets were diving and the gulls were actively feeding on bait balls at the surface of the water attracting the whales to them. Soon the whales were joining in the feeding frenzy and were scooping up bait fish near the surface of the water. Our guests not only got to see and hear these beautiful baleen whales but they got to smell them too. They have the nickname "stinky minke"." -Naturalist Jami Nagel
posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 1:10 AM
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