[09/05/2021] I went whale-watching

Today, Morgan, Grace, Freddy and I went whale-watching. We left home at 6AM, drove to Anacortes, then took a ferry to Friday Harbor, from there got on a small mighty boat and went whale-watching in UC-Canada waters.

The guides were awesome. So upbeat and positive and they took a good care of us. The clothing they provided kept us warm, the binoculars gave us the visibility and a good humor made us smile throughout the entire 2.5 hours on the water. It is a family-run business and I highly recommend them to anyone and will use them again.

Western Prince Whale Watching & Wildlife Tours

https://orcawhalewatch.com

reserve@orcawhalewatch.com

(360) 378-5315

We took the Western Explorer II boat (see the picture below). Everything from beginning to end was a class act. The crew including the captain and 1 guide - both were all very interactive, informative, entertaining, and super nice people. On this outing we were very lucky to see 2 brothers orcas and learned a lot from the guides.

With their power, beauty and mystery there is something very captivating about these kings and queens of the ocean!

• The name killer whale derives from their original name ‘whale killers’ given to them by sailors who saw them hunting whales. Over time, the name eventually switched around. The name ‘orca‘ comes from their Latin species name Orcinus orca, where orcinus translates to mean ‘Kingdom of the dead’.

• Despite their name, killer whales are actually a dolphin – the largest species of oceanic dolphin!

• Orca can be seen in every ocean on the earth. They are one of the most successful marine mammals in terms of range.

• The average life span of an orca is not too dissimilar to a human, at 50-80 years for females and slightly less for males at 29-60 years.

• Adults show some differences in appearance between the sexes. Males can grow up to approximately 8 metres and weigh over 5 tonnes. Females are smaller, growing up to about 7 metres and weighing up to 3 tonnes. Males have an impressively tall dorsal fin, which can grow up to 1.8m (or 6 foot!), compared to females whose dorsal fins measure up to 80cm.

Some of our incredible orca encounters below..

Below is a video of Brown Island (also known as Spieden island), which is a small, private island near Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, San Juan County, Washington, United States. It lies just offshore to the east-northeast of the town of Friday Harbor, Washington. The island has a land area of approximately 70 acres (28 ha).

Brown Island was named by the Wilkes Expedition in 1841 for the party's navigational instrument repairman, John G. Brown.

It is a unique island that is home to some very unique animals. Though currently a private island with no public access, the island had an era as an exotic game hunting ground in the 1970’s and 80’s. A variety of species including birds and land mammals were brought in for the sporting pleasure. The islands tenure as a hunting ground came to an end, but not for it’s extant 4 legged residents: mouflon sheep from Corsica, fallow deer from Europe, and Sika deer from Japan.

It is quite an experience to see these animals up close. The island itself is quite the geological anomaly, stretching east to west with the south-facing side barren and north side covered in a dense forest. The animals come out to graze the angled meadows of the south side.

The animals spend their entire lives on this island and have become quite accustomed to exploring all it’s nooks and crannies, including navigating the steep cliffs for a chance to munch on some bull kelp that washed up. We also saw a bald eagle sitting on the tree.

Fascinating!