Am trip May 9th, 2009. Minke Whale, Eagles and more!

The four pictures below are of the Minke Whale that we found south of Discovery Island:)

Eagle on Cormorants nest at Great Chain

Above & below, Harbor Seals at Chain Islets.

Passengers boarding our vessels preparing for another excellent adventure

Minke Whale south of Discovery Island

Bald Eagle at Trial Island with Mt. Olympus in the back ground.

This morning we took a large group of visitors from Taiwan out into the Strait of Juan De Fuca and it was the perfect spring day.

It was a perfect spring morning as we headed out into the Strait of Juan De Fuca and perfect conditions for finding Cetaceans. We first headed over to Trial Island and the Chain Islets, where we saw Eagles and a large number of Harbor Seals.

We then headed south of Discovery Island and Captain Bill spotted a number of Bait Balls and headed over towards a particularly large bait ball with a swirling mass of Gulls and diving birds including Rhinoceros Auklets. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a number of Harbor Porpoise and then I spotted a Minke Whale near the bait ball much to the delight of all on board our 3 vessels:) The Minke was moving from one Bait Ball to the next and we sat watching this Baleen Whale for several minutes.

We then travelled up Haro Strait to see if we could see any of the Harbor Porpoise we had seen earlier. Then we went back to the Chain Islets to have another look at the Harbor Seals and also saw an Eagle on the Cormorants nest at Great Chain, it was the perfect end to a wonderful spring morning on the water and our guests from Taiwan were thrilled with their adventure on the Salish Sea:)