Mixed Adventures: Orcas in the Salish Sea

Whale Watching

By far one of the most breath taking and once in a life time experiences for me this year was whale watching. Whale watching - hold up! Orcas are not whales at all. The original translation was whale killer then it was switched to killer whale. They are the largest form of the dolphin species.

I asked my dad if he would like to go as a late birthday/Father's Day trip. He of course said yes. My mom decided since he was going, she would go to. This is how things work in my family...my mom usually is the one who says no to traveling (and most other things) so either I have to trick her into going on a trip or make her think she is going to be left behind. It's manipulative but it works. And let's face it, it's for a good purpose.

I set up the trip, made hotel reservations, checked with a friend of mine about places to go as his mom lives up there and planned out when we needed to leave to catch the ferry. (Besides seeing the orcas you can check out the lavender farm, San Juan winery, Mona the camel, rent a scootcar, which my dad is convinced he needs one of these....Lime Kiln State park where you can whale watch in the afternoon with binoculars and Roche Harbor).

Waiting for the ferry in Anacortes

The ferry ride from Anacortes to Friday Harbor is about an hour. We arrived in Friday Harbor checked into our hotel and then headed to Cattle Point.

Mom and Dad at Cattle Point

The Whale Museum

That afternoon we went to the Whale Museum. Which had information on all types of whales and tracks the different pods. There are three resident pods J, K and L. Each whale has their own unique fin and coloring which helps identify them. Females and juvenile orcas has a curved dorsal fin. For the males the dorsal fin will lose it's curve with maturity and can be as big as 6 feet tall.

Orcas in the Salish Sea

Dorsal Fin

We headed out for an evening cruise. It took approximately an hour to get to the whales in the Canadian waters of the Salish Sea. We were able to see 6 whales from the J & L pods, including the male orca, Onxy. These pods are resident orcas. Resident orcas feed up to 200 lbs of fish per day. Transient orcas feed on marine mammals.

Being playful

The pictures just don't do it justice and my camera was not fast enough to catch them. You have to be there. In fact at one point I looked over and saw my mom grinning from ear to ear as she watched the orcas through her binoculars. That alone was worth it....to see them enjoying something truly "magical". (At times the orcas were so close we didn't even need binoculars). I did take some videos but they are not uploading correctly.

On our trip back to Friday Harbor we saw some harbor seals. A bit of trivia - if you see a seal with ear flaps they are actually not harbor seals they are sea lions. I also saw three bald eagles...two were juveniles, which do not have the white capped head.