268th New Thing - Went on a Whale & Wildlife Tour

I was on vacation so I didn't have time to post the last few nights, therefore I'm posting this late as this occurred 4 days ago (Sat 7/14/12).

 

We were in the northwest in the Washington State area for a few days so Matt and my 2 Chicago friends went to San Juan Islands all day on Saturday. First, we drove about 2 hours from the airport north to the Anacortes and took the Washington State Ferry ($12.45 RT/person) to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. Then we walked around the town for a bit before our reserved tour with Western Prince Whale & Wildlife Tours ($79.00/person). We boarded the Western Prince II at 2:00pm. The tour says you will breathe the fresh island air, take in the scenery, and experience the seeing of Orca (Killer) Whales, Bald Eagles, Porpoises, Seals, Sea Birds, and Sea Lions in their natural environment. It was about a 1 hour boat ride out to where the whales swim, 1 hour to whale watch, and 1 hour boat ride back on the 46' Western Prince II. We saw a couple bald eagles and sea lions on the way there.

Orcas are highly intelligent and social animals, traveling in groups called pods. We saw about a dozen orca whales from J pod and a few L pod in the Strait of Georgia. Their fierce predatory style won them the nickname of “killer whale” in spite of the fact that Orcas, both in the wild and in captivity, show incredible curiosity, awareness and gentleness toward people. Although orcas are found in all oceans and most seas they prefer colder waters and are more predominant in the Pacific Basin. Orcas are black in color with white undersides. The largest of the dolphin family, male Orcas average 27 feet in length and weigh 8 tons with dorsal fins growing as high as 6 feet. Females are smaller, growing to an average 23 feet and weighing six tons. Their dorsal fins only grow to two feet and are more curved, making it possible to tell the genders apart while viewing them from the boat. They did all the 'tricks' in the book: breaching (jump clear of the water and crash back down on its back or side), blowing (rising puffs of steam), tail lobbing (slap its tail on the water’s surface), spy hopping (hang vertically in the water and sticks its head above the surface to get a look at what is going on out of the water), etc. The captain and naturalists on the tour agreed that this was 1 of the best tours they had this year!

Next we had a drink at before catching the ferry back to Anacortes. Then we drove about 45 minutes to my friends manager's house in Bellingham WA where we had refreshing margaritas and a delicious pork and veggie dinner. What an awesome and amazing day out on the water in the northwest!

What did you do today?