Anacortes Location
06-07-22
Today we left the dock and headed south on our search. The water was glass calm and we could see for miles. We scoured Lawson Reef before we took a turn to the north up Rosario Strait. We cruised between Orcas Island and the outer islands and eventually ended up right on the border of Canada in the presence of two humpback whales! These whales were swimming side-by-side, in large circles in the swirling waters off East Point. We are able to identify them as BCX1057 “Divot” and BCX1251 “Orion.” It certainly was a beautiful evening spent listening to these majestic creatures breathe as they surfaced. We were even treated to Orion’s flukes every time they sounded on a deep dive. We eventually had to turn and head back toward home, but not before we slowed down between Puffin and Matia islands where several harbor seals were hauled out and two mature bald eagles were hanging out on the rocks. We had Fidalgo Island in our sights when Captain Jim slowed the boat down - he had spotted another humpback whale! This whale was a little squirrelly, but we were able to locate it as she cruised north in Rosario Strait. We were even lucky enough to get a sounding dive, allowing us to ID this animal as BCX0480’s 2020 calf “Harpy!” What a wonderful way to end our evening on the Salish Sea!