Highlights from our June All-Day Tour

June 6, 2018

We hosted our second all-day tour of the 2018 season on Sunday, June 3rd. We offer several of these extended tours each year and every one is a uniquely different experience. Although our daily whale watching and wildlife tours allow plenty of time to view whales and other wildlife, these extended tours are always an adventure that creates some extra space to experience special moments within the ecosystem at a more relaxed, timeless pace.

We departed Friday Harbor in the morning onboard our brand-new boat, J2. We had several passengers who have been on every single one of our all-day tours over the last few years, many repeat passengers, and a few new guests. It was a fantastic group of people and we knew we were going to have a special day. Like our previous all-day whale watching and wildlife adventures, we had no idea exactly what we would encounter or where we would go when we left the harbor.

Humpback Whales
We were out on J2 for less than 20 minutes when we received a call from our other boat, J1. They had just departed from Snug Harbor Resort on a whale watching tour and found two humpback whales slowly traveling north in Haro Strait. We were able to identify the two humpbacks as MMX0006 and BCXuk2015#2, "Spotlight."

Humpback whales are experiencing a big comeback in the Salish Sea. In 1966, when international whaling of humpbacks was banned, the northeast Pacific population numbered less than 1,500. Today that population has rebounded to over 20,000 whales! Some of this population spends the summer months feeding in the Salish Sea. An individual humpback can consume up to 3,000 pounds of food per day in their feeding waters.

Seeing humpbacks on our whale watching tours has become a highlight and gives us the opportunity to showcase the results of one of the most successful conservation efforts on earth.

Wildlife in Active Pass
Active Pass is a beautiful, narrow channel in British Columbia between Mayne Island and Galiano Island. Transiting through the pass can be a great opportunity to view wildlife and you never know what you may see. We had several special moments as we slowly cruised through. One of the day's highlights was spotting several dozen pigeon guillemots nesting in the side of a cliff. These are seabirds found throughout the north Pacific coastal waters and they can forage below the water at depths between 20 - 150 feet. We enjoyed some quiet moments watching them fly out of the nests, land on the water and dive below. We also were able to view several harbor seal haul outs and some bald eagles before we departed in search of killer whales.

Socializing Bigg's (Transient) Orcas
We received a report of orcas and made our way several miles to the north in the Strait of Georgia, along the Galiano Island shoreline. There were two families of Bigg's (Transient) orcas, the T65A's and T49A's, traveling and socializing together.

The entire group of whales was very active, especially the new calves from each family. Young T49A5, first sighted in November 2017, was full of energy, porpoising all over the place, coming up in a different location and direction the entire time we were with them. New calf T65A6, born in spring of 2018, was also very energetic. Teenage males from each family, seventeen year-old T49A1 and fourteen year-old T65A2 were off on their own, socializing together.

It was an incredible experience to see the two families of whales so playful. When it was time to leave, the two calves were still highly energetic and T65A2 had rejoined the group. By this time T49A1 was travelling several miles ahead of his family. Last fall he left his family for a while before reuniting with them this spring. We look forward to seeing the T49A's again to see if he is with them.

On the way back to Friday Harbor
Because we were on an extended tour we were able to explore and view more wildlife on the way home. We spent some time watching eagles and turkey vultures, nesting cormorants on Mandarte Island, and also had time to view exotic sheep and deer on Spieden Island. We also traveled down to Cattle Pass to check out a sea otter that has been hanging out down there this week!

Join us for one of our special all-day tours
Space is limited on our extended tours for the remainder of this season, but if you are interested please call us at 360-378-7996. You can also arrange your own all-day tour for your group on a private charter onboard J1, J2 or Imagine or join daily our three hour whale watching & wildlife tours departing from downtown Friday Harbor and Snug Harbor Resort, on the west side of San Juan Island.