San Juan Island Boat Trip

Yay! For my birthday Bruce was a very busy bee. He managed to get almost all of my family (Des had a class) to come to the San Juan Islands for a boat trip (it was a whale watching trip, but that didn't happen, so it is a boat trip now). I was in shock that he managed to do all this stuff behind my back without me having any idea!

We got up super early on Saturday morning to get ready and we caravaned up to Anacortes where we took the ferry across to Friday Harbor. It was absolutely beautiful there. After days and days of rain (and some snow - in APRIL!!!!) we were blessed with sun!!! It was already a perfect day. Friday Harbor is so quaint and just being next to the water lifts my spirits.

We got ready to set out on a whale watching tour - Orcas had been spotted the day before hunting for food just an island away. Would we get lucky? Unfortunately, we didn't see Orcas but have no fear I was in love with being on the excursion with my family and birthday twin, Stephanie,and her husband. The only ones missing were Mike and Des who were teaching a class, so what are you gonna do? Steph and her husband were great substitutes.

Bruce and my dad each spotted Harbor Porpoises but there were too quick to capture on camera. They looked like mini-Orcas because they were black and white. We also got to see Harbor Seals sunning themselves and splashing around in the water. Then there were Stellar Sea Lions singing and sunning themselves. Every time I tried to capture their singing on camera they got shy and quiet. We saw an island that had exotic deer and sheep (?) brought to the island to hunt. There were lots of babies and males with curly horns. Of course there were bald eagles everywhere - apparently 10% of all the bald eagles in the US live in the San Juans! There were more birds that I can't even begin to remember the names of and I loved seeing them capture fish. There were falcons but I can't remember the specific kind. At one point we stopped in a huge kelp bed that grows 1 foot or more a day and is harvested for use in things like toothpaste.

 Harbor Seals

 Ryan on the lookout

 Sprits high looking for wildlife

 Attentive lookouts

 Ryan enjoying the sunny day on the water

 on a constant lookout

 Coming up to more Harbor Seals

 They all started jumping in the water - I hoped as bait, but that's just mean

 Stellar Sea Lions sunning themselves

 Stephanie trying to avoid the spray in some really, really choppy and windy waters

 Michael tirelessly on the lookout

 Ryan after his nap

I guess San Juan Island area is a very nutrient rich environment and has an amazing array of wild life above and below the water. The islands are actually tops of what used to be glacial mountains that were formed when the glaciers began melting and rounding out the tops of the mountains to become the cluster of islands that we know today. Gorgeous!

Overall it was an AMAZING day and I couldn't have asked for a better time. Thanks so much to my family and friends for getting together with me as an excuse. I love you all!

 

Just because it was funny - it looks like the boat was driving itself :)