Lunge feeding minkes and a humpback whale!

07-03-22

Orcas Ferry Landing

Our afternoon trip started out at the Orcas ferry landing. We headed east down Harney Channel, took a right and headed south down San Juan Channel. At the south end of San Juan Channel, we spotted several Steller sea lions hauled out on Whale Rocks. There were a couple Stellers who were quite rambunctious. We continued west toward Salmon Bank and that is where the action began! There were several birds moving from bait ball to bait ball in the area, and all of a sudden a minke whale popped up lunging through the ba

it balls! We had several huge lunges, where we saw most of the whales body come out of the water as he took out all the fish. There was another minke whale in the area who was feeding less aggressively. We had some great looks as they dined on so many fish. We continued our journey further to the east. We cruised through the south end of Lopez Island and Castle Rock, where spotted two mature bald eagles in a dead snag. We continued north in Rosario Strait towards Anacortes, where we found our second species of the day. It turned out to be a humpback whale! It was our buddy BCY1022, lovingly referred to as "Scratchy." Scratchy gave us several great looks as he fluked repeatedly and cruised down the James Island shoreline. That’s where we turned and headed back towards Orcas ferry landing. It was great day full of whales and minimal rain!