WHALE WATCHING IN PUGET SOUND

June 17, 2013

Today was special.  We took a small whale watching boat from Port Townsend into Puget Sound.  We spent about an hour at full throttle heading west from the port to meet up with a pod of whales reported to be entering the sound just west of Vancouver Island.  We met up with not one, but two pods of Orca whales.  These whales are also known as killer whales.  However, this particular species of orcas are fish eaters and thrive on the salmon that swim along the shores of the San Juan Islands.  This picture was taken facing north and the lighthouse and land you see in the background is Canadian.  

Orcas in Puget Sound

The pods of whales we saw are "community" whales.  That is, they are whales that stay in this area.  There are actually three separate pods in this area with 90 whales total.   These whale pods are matrilineal.   We also saw sea lions and a bald eagle on one of the sand bars on our way back into port.

Orca Pod

Steve on whale watching boat

Tomorrow we're taking our car on a ferry over to Whidbey Island.  That will be a new experience.