Whale Watching Report

Today we started out southward and found two gray whales just north of the naval air station on Whidbey Island. They were swimming side by side and they surfaced near us many times. It looked like they were feeding as they would occasionally go under the water with one tail fluke in the air as they swam on their sides. The wind was building so we weren't able to go out to some of our favorite spots to look for minke whales, but we did tuck in and take a look at Bird Rocks where hundreds of double-crested cormorants, and glaucous-winged gulls were getting stirred up by a pair of bald eagles perched on the rocks. Every time the eagles took flight all the birds would scatter. Next we headed north through Rosario Strait and toward the shoreline of Cypress Island where we spotted a cooperative pod of harbor porpoises, and lots of curious harbor seals that seemed to enjoy watching us as much as we enjoyed watching them. The seas were very calm in this area making the end of our journey a peaceful one along with the beautiful sunset! Naturalist Bart Rulon