Yup, we went whale watching yesterday. It was a long day – out of the motorhome at 7:00 am and back home by 6:30 pm. We took a full day cruise with Puget Sound Express out of Port Townsend. This was one of the smaller boats with only 70 seats. Some have 200 plus!
We started out being quite successful! We saw a humpback whale only about 45 minutes into the cruise. It was obviously feeding along a ridge, and it hung around a long while.
We then didn’t see much else for quite a while. We did catch some stellar sea lions sunning themselves on a rocky outcropping. There were probably 50 or more. We stayed well off-shore so we didn’t bother them which made it hard to get a picture with my point and shoot camera.
We then went to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. Nice place for lunch, and we really enjoyed seeing all the variety of watercraft moored there.
We did get a visit from a harbor seal while in Friday Harbor.
We also saw a Minke whale on the way back, but they are shyer and I couldn’t get a picture. Kevin got a good one, but his camera doesn’t have Bluetooth transfer! You will just have to imagine it.
The trip was informative and remarkably comfortable though it was a long day. The captain was very apologetic that we didn’t see any Orcas, but they just weren’t surfacing in the area. It was cold and rainy with a storm front coming in, so that was probably why. We did learn a lot about the wildlife and history of the area. I would definitely recommend this company to others. Since we had a huge lunch, we just picked up ice cream on the way home! Not nutritious, but easy.