Afternoon trip May 9th, 2009. Gray Whale, Minke Whale, Eagles and more:)

The five pictures below show the large Gray Whale we found south of Trial Island. This Gray Whale was porbably over 40' long!

Cormorants in flight at Chain Islets.

Harbor Seals

Black Oyster Catchers

Mother & Duckings in the inner Harbour, so cute:)

Harlequin Duck

The four pictures below are of the Minke Whale in Haro Strait.

Immature Bald Eagle at Race Rocks.

The 3 pictures below show Steller & California Sealions as well as a number of Northern Elephant Seals at Race Rocks.

Race Rocks with Mt. Olympus in the background!

We headed back out on the water this afternoon in search of the Minke Whale and other cetaceans again. We found Sealions, Northern Elephant Seals and Harbor seals along with an Immature Bald Eagle at Race Rocks.

Then as we headed East back to where we had found the Minke Whale, and as we passed Trial Island we came across a large Gray Whale, what a bonus:) We observed the Gray Whale moving against the tide across the Strait of Juan De Fuca. These large Cetaceans are usually found in shallow bays where they feed in the muddy bottoms, so this was a pleasant surprise to find this Gray Whale in this spot.

Next we headed into Haro Strait to see if we could find the Minke Whale we had found earlier. Sure enough our Captain, Trev, put the boat in the perfect position to find the Minke much to the delight of our passengers. It is not too often we see two different species of Baleen Whale in the same trip:)

On our way home we stopped at the Chain Islets and observed several Harbor Seals, Harlequin Ducks, Black Oyster Catchers and Cormorants. It had been the perfect spring day on the water with so much incredible wildlife and the beauty of our suroundings, what more could yoou ask for!