I was up from Seattle and wanted to get out on the water and decided to try my luck on a whale watch! The reservations staff were awesome to work with and i got to explore Friday harbor a bit before our departure. Luckily they told me to bring extra layers and some food, because even though it was a sunny warm day, it got chilly as the boat was underway!
The crew on the boat was great! Captain Mike obviously knows what he is doing behind the wheel, and the naturalist Sarah was full of great information and was making sure each passenger was comfortable and informed.
While we didnt see any wild orcas on our sunday excursion, we did see maybe 30 stellars sea lions relaxing in the water by Spieden island, and there was a california sea lion with them too! Many of them were holding their flippers in the air to "thermoregulate", as Sarah explained. We saw lots of deer and sheep on this island as well as lots and LOTS of bald eagles theoughout the tour. We learned that the san juan islands have one of the largest populations in the US!
The rest of the tour was full of more eagles, sea lions, sunshine and beautiful scenery. We got to go around the entire island on our journey! The only thing that could have made the tour better was the presence of whales, but as they are wild animals we can't expect them to be around on our schedule.
Thanks for an awesome experience!