Whale Watching

One of my birthday gifts from C.B. was a trip to Orcas Island to go whale watching. This weekend we finally had the time to go and it was amazing! We sailed with the Orcas Island Eclipse and it was a total of 3.5 hours of sailing.  The boat was on the smaller side and everyone had assigned seating, which I appreciated. You could bring on your own food and you could purchase snacks on board. The staff was super knowledgeable in regards to the whales and the pods that they traveled in. There are three total pods in the San Juans and we saw the K Pods. Each whale had a name and could be identified by their markings and size.The oldest whale is 100 years old and the youngest was born three months ago. The baby whale was super active and put on quite the show. His uncle, Lobo was also entertaining and made an appearance right next to the boat. He totally took every one by surprise! We were also able to spot some seals, different birds and a couple of eagles. If you ever wanted to do it, I highly recommend it!

You can pull off a day trip to Orcas Island if you board the ferry by foot. If you want to take your car with you, I highly advice making it an overnight trip. The wait at the ferry terminal to take your car on can take up to two hours and the ferry to Orcas Island doesn't come by as often.The whale watching tour boat was right next to the ferry terminal, so we opted to leave our car on the main land. Also we couldn't find any place to stay on the island, not even camping. A lady on the boat with us told us that she was only able to reserve camping because everything else was booked, and she did that months in advance.

The baby whale on the left and his cousins and aunt to the right.

The best picture of me taken on the boat. The wind was blowing so hard and I had to keep a hold of my shirt from flopping up. No I'm not pregnant, just to clear any questions up.

Seals on Whale Rock.

All pictures (except of him) taken by C.B. for The Grass is Greener.